The Opelousas courier., 1898-02-05
sNA.Ls EATEN AS GOD,
There Are Some People Who Regard
These Pests AS Dainty.


These Pests as Dainty.
1t may surprise many readers tc
learn that the common garden snail,
regarded as an unmitigated pest by
agriculturists in this country, is used
for food by thousands of persons; and
when properly cooked is esteemed .
dainty dish by epicures in all the
is this the case in foreign countries,
where the overcrowding of the popula-
ton renders it obligatory that every.
thing edible should be eaten. but here
in America, where in New York the
arrival of the French steamers with
their cargo of snails is an event of, i'm
p%ortance in gastronomic cir cles, a-d
the leading French restaurants adver-
tise the dish as a special attraction.
Like other homely animals which
serve for food, the snail changes his
name whsanlga comes to the table, and
takes thtF French title.
Rus as the pig becomes pork, the
G;ec'beef and the iheep mutton, the
! Snail figures on bills of fare as l'escar-
got, a much"raore imposing designa-
ton. Like msny other dishes es-
teemed by epicures, it m to US by
way of France from Italy; for the
French, who are. the masters of the
world in cookery, learned the art orig
inally from the Italians. The ancient
Romans, whose enperors and mobiles
lived to eat, aud who not infrequently
| spent a fortune on a single feast, con-
sidered the escargot a choice d~elicacy.
Pliny mentioned it as among the table
Injuries of his day, and Apicius, in a
treatise on cookery, enumerates sew
eral ways Of cooking the dish, ..the
most e%xtravagant being with a sauce
of sweet herbs, milk, butter, cheese,
boiled wine, wheat -four and saffron.
The escargot has always been re-
garded as nutritious and wholesome;
in the middle ages he was used as
medicine and pounded in a mortar;
stewed in milk he was regarded as a
specific in lung diseases. He has al
ways been eaten in the south Of
France, where he does immense dam
age to the vines, and the grape-grow-
ers are glad to get rid of him, and
make money at the same time by send
ing him to market. Indeed, he forms
an important source Of revenue, and
his yearly'sales in Paris alone are said
to approximate 1000, 900 francs.
While he feeds chiefly on the grape
leaf, he is also fond of cabbages, and
indeed will eat any green herb or ten
der leaf.
For this reason the %snails, when
gathered, are always placed in casks
and kept without food in a cool place
for at least two months in order to
purify them; they have a fancy for
both hemlock and belladonna, and
cases of poisoning sometimes occur as
a result of eating snails which have
not been properly cleansed; i. e.,
starved before being brought to table.
He is classed by the dealers as among
shellfish, and is in great demand as q
lenten delicacy. Heaps Of them are
exposed for sale on the counters at
the Halles, side by side with Holsters
and crawfsh, for the crawfsh is
another French dainty. It has long
been the custom in Bordeaux to 60 on
Ash Wednesday to the commune of
Canderan, which is noted for its es-
cargoteries (snail farms) to feast upon
escargot, by way of winding up the
carnival and beginning Lent.
Along the Cote-d'Or and in the Low
er Alps snail-picking furnishes m
ployment to hundred, of people, and
is carried on much as berry-picking.
In the early morning, when the Shiny
trail of the snail g~listens wherever he
has crawled during the night, the
pickers go forth with baskets and
pals. They find the snails in damp
places, resting on the under surface
of leaves and vines, and gather them
just as the farmers boy picks dewber-
ries or huckleberries. These are
snails of natural growth, wild s%nails,
we would say. But snails are largely
cultivated for the market, and one
farm near Dion is said to clear 1000
francs a year from it's snails, which are
fed upon cabbage and clover. There
are many large snail gardens in the
cantons of Switzerland, and Ulm has
for many years been famous for its es-
cargoteries. Great numbers of snails
come to Spain and the Midi from the
African states bordering on the Med
iterranean, bushels of them being ex.'
ported from Algiers every week dur.
ing the season.
You will find them on the bill Of
fare in every restaurant in Paris, OF
you may buy them in the markets,
either alive or boiled in strong salt
vinegar water, and drawn from the
shell ready for cooking, in which state
the Partisan housekeeper prefers
them, and in which she pays n cent a
piece for them.-What to Eat.
ALaw to Preserve the Birds.
A new law in Massachusetts makes