Snake soup in cooking varies from place to place but water snake and python snake are popular choices. Chinese cobra, Banded krait, Indo-Chinese Rat Snake, Tri-rope beauty snake and Hundred-pace viper are commonly used in snake soups. At many restaurants that serve snake soups, customers are able to choose, according to their preference, live snakes to be prepared. Snake meat is light pink in color. On a par with fish, snake meat tastes much richer and is chewier than the former. Ramy Inocencio of CNN describes that "Minced dark mushrooms, finely julienned chicken, fragrant chopped ginger and other herbs and spices fill
Banded water snake their patterning is barely discernible. They have flat heads, and are fairly heavy-bodied. If irritated, they release a foul-smelling musk to deter predators. Their appearance leads them to be frequently mistaken for other snakes with which they share a habitat, including the less common, venomous cottonmouth. "Nerodia fasciata" inhabits most freshwater environments such as lakes, marshes, ponds, and streams. It preys mainly on fish and frogs. Using its vomeronasal organ, also called Jacobson's organ, the snake can detect parvalbumins in the cutaneous mucus of its prey. The species is ovoviviparous, giving birth to live young. The brood size varies from