Posted on 04/13/2023 8:20:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
...when did humans start eating snails? Well, researchers have recently discovered the earliest evidence of prehistoric people cooking and eating these terrestrial mollusks. But while you might imagine a rustic version of modern escargot, the snails in question were actually enormous in comparison.
A team of researchers from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, have found shell fragments of land snails from the Achatinidae family – which can grow to 16 centimeters (6.3 inches) long – at Border Cave, located on a cliff near South Africa's border with Eswatini. The site has been excavated on multiple occasions since the 1930s, but it was during work conducted between 2015 and 2019 that the shell fragments of giant land snails were found.
The shell bits, recovered in relative abundance, appeared in multiple layers of sediment dating from 70,000 to 170,000 years ago. They also come in a range of colors... which occurs when the shell is heated...
Other research has shown that snail consumption appears in dig sites dated to about 30,000 years ago in Europe and around 40,000 years ago in Africa. This represents a "huge gap" for the study's findings, study author Marine Wojcieszak told New Scientist...
Given that hominins have been using fire for at least 400,000 years, it is easy to see how the latest finds fall within the realm of possibility. In fact, there is evidence that we were baking fish over 780,000 years ago.
To test their hypothesis that the snails were on site due to human consumption, the team took shells from modern land snails and broke them into fragments. The fragments were of different sizes and colors and were experimentally heated for periods of time between 5 minutes to 36 hours.
(Excerpt) Read more at iflscience.com ...
Snails on the barbie!
I luv me some snails in garlic butter!
Making my mouth water…😛
They probably started cooking them after noticing people getting various debilitating parasites from eating them raw.
Your post is nonsense.
lol... I used to eat after midnight at a diner where they actually had something they didn't *call* the big salad, but was one. I got healthier just eating there, or broke even anyway, because they also had excellent blue cheeseburgers.
While all the swift hunters were off risking their lives far from the villages, all the kids and slow adults were eating like this. :^)
Insect diets show that hunger — and the double dare — drives humans to do odd things.
The wildcrafting of what we call the chicken revolutionized human diets, beginning with chicken fried lice.
I was revolted by the very look of escargot, served as it was at that time and place with the remains of the eye stalks visible — but was assured that, put it on the fork, close my eyes, pop it in. Taste sensation.
The double dare and running with mouth open.
I agree wholeheartedly! I didn’t try snails...I watched as a friend ate them, and all I could see was rubber. I thought I heard it squeak in her teeth. Much like a pencil eraser.
I draw the line at octopus, squid, snail, and sushi. I’m a carnivore and prefer my meat red or at the least white, like pork or chicken and turkey.
Although I spent the first five years of my life on an island, I’m NOT a seafood fan. Period.
FReegrards,
‘Face
;o]
We’re gonna need a bigger drawn butter boat.
These snails are a shell of their former selves.
It’s not really a “giant” snail if you can hold it in your hand. /smirk
I think I'll rustle up some grub...
Supersize me!
Helluva cave painting. Hunters with spears attacking a Mastodon sized snail.
Wahlburgers used to let me get a bleu cheese burger salad. I miss them.
Squid is bait to be used to catch something else that is edible by humans.
And don't tell me about how good calamari is - It's still squid.
I promise, I’ll be the last person to try and convince you to eat squid. Calamari by any other name would still be an octopus with bones. No thanks.
‘Face
;o]
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