Posted on 07/06/2008 12:41:24 PM PDT by goldstategop
Producers warn the price of snails - one of France's more exotic foodstuffs - is about to soar, because of economic development in eastern Europe.
France consumes more than 14,000 tonnes of snails every year but practically none of them are actually French.
With the most prized species now under protection, the industry relies on central and east European imports.
But economic progress in countries like Poland and Bulgaria means less appetite for the hard work of snail-gathering.
Until now, every year rural families there could earn a decent wage from collecting the animals in the fields and woods.
So the companies which buy the snails are putting up their salaries in order to keep their employees, which means they are going to have to put up their prices in order to stay solvent.
With only a few snail farms still active in France itself, mainly in the hills of Burgundy, the French Federation of Preserved Food Industries is warning that the days of cheap snails are over.
It is a lesson in global economics that lovers of Escargots a la bourguignonne are going to have to live with.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Properly prepared, they are tasty little devils, even better than the curly fries at Hardee’s.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Large garden slugs are just as tasty. You can catch them with beer.
That's how I catch rednecks!
Don’t they have snail farms? Ranches, maybe?
Snails would herd at such a leisurely pace, I can see where round-up could be a little slow. But there would no trouble dropping a lasso on one of them, and branding would go pretty smoothly, as the snails don’t struggle all that much. Just a mark on the outside of the shell.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I ate my first escargot in Pasadena in late 1978 during an evening when it snowed in that area of Southern California. (It was an unusual evening, so I chose an unusual food.) Those escargot escarwent and were escargone in a speed much faster than a snail's pace.
Yeah, it is an attractive bail all right. Minor problem. Just toss out the unconscious rednecks and keep the slugs when you check the traps.
That’s bait. Not enough beer, yet.
The Clark AFB O’Club in the RP had escargot on the menu for $1.00 per dozen, but that was back in 1973. (I wonder where they got those snails back in the PI? But then they had a lot of foods you didn’t want to ask questions about.)
Why did the Frenchman paint an S on his car?
Because he wanted to see the S car go.
"The days of cheap snails." I have to admit, that's a phrase I never thought I'd see.
Lets use American know how to make snails a new export crop for America. We could sell them as “Fast Food” to the Democrats at the Convention.
Thanks for posting this ... I need to place an order for several cans. Yum!
Totally news to me. I thought they all came from snail farms.
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