The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-15
EDIBLE sNAILs

To most Americans the idea of using snails in the diet will not. awaken gas trononic enthusiasm; but there are people in various parts of the world to whom the suggestion of the use of other mollusks, such as oysters and clans, would be repugnant. It is not necessary to go back to the dags of the elder P1iny for evidence that edible snails have had a place on the menus of many countries It is stat ed that during our own oyster season. from September to April, more than 200 million snails are disposed of in Paris alone. The daily consumption of "escargots' in the French capital has been estimated at 50 tons when trade is at it's best. Tn the belief that the American people can be edu- cated to see the true worth of the edible snail. which might be grown with profit in the United States, a government expert has collected some facts bearing on their use. The European war has added al further in terest to the possibility of snail cul- ture. Com parativeIy few Americans have ever tasted snails, know of their preparation as food or even consider them fit article of diet, Among the foreigners in our population, snai1s have a limited sale. Those sold in the fish markets of our larger cities have practically all been imported from France. Abroad, snails are by no means regarded in any sense as a national dish. They are included in the dietary much as is the oyster in this country, as a table luxury or deli cacy. In respect to composition, the two groups of mollusks furnish about the same yield of nutrients. In Eu- rope, snails are raised commercially under an intensive system of culture in many places, in naileries- Rust believes that although snail culture may not be very prodtab bIe in Europe, where economic conditions are differ ent, in that the food for the animals must be grown and supplied to them regularly and everything done with much labor on restricted areas of land, in the United States snail farm ing might. with judicious publicity and in time, become profitable WhetheT Or not it is advantageous, from the standpoint of nutrition, to attempt to introduce a new food to the American table is a question of individual pre- ference. Almost everyone, Rust writes. who has ever eaten well-ppepared snails, admits their gastrOnonlic worth from the points both of nutritive value and of flavor and there are many states where they could be grown al=d kept fresh until used. and where they would prove very wei come addition to the somewhat limit ed menu of the locality. In, the Mis- sissippi Valley, for instance, where conditions for their cultivation arc almost ideal, they could be grown at practically no cost (either in money, time or 1abor). and might be used to 9 great extent in place of oysters. which they greatly resemble in flavor when properly prepared. Such a practice would be advantageous. says The Journal of the American Medical Association, for the snail is possibly preferable asa an article oe human consumption. It is cleaner, feeding dainti1y. as it does. only on the clean. est f vegetable tissues, while oysters, not being able to move about in search of food, must take what comes to them in the water. At any rate, we can be prepared to receive the sug- gestion of the addition of snails to the American menu without the revuIsion of feeling which it awakens in many at present.