STRANGE DELICACIES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 114, 12 May 1909, Page 7

STRANGE DELICACIES.

FRIED LIZARDS AND SNAKES,

Among the queer dishes consumed in Paris there are some which hardly appeal to the taste of English readers. French epicures, like French cooks, have long been known as having the gift of originality. From them we lt.arn that fried lizards must be very appetising. So are young crocodiles anC snakes.

A writer in the Gil Bias has discovered that these are articles of current consumption here. According to hi statistics, 5000 common lizards, ar-» sold here every year, and those who make it a special calling to supf>i.y this commodity find it very profitable. But there is a far greater demand ;or salamanders, which are a special Lh<d of lizard. Some 8000 of these are disposed of every year. Young, and therefore tender, lizards freuently fetch as much as a small chicken -- about four francs a-piece. <VJ an-'l dry ones are not got rid of for hfey centimes. Snakes fetch a good price, too, and good ones are worth as much as a turkey. Adders, it seems, arc considered a special delicacy, and are most in demand. Young crocodiles also find a good market.. They are nearly as dear as a good-sized calf, and when very small they fetch fancy prices. Not many of thenij however, the writer says, are sold in a year. Perhaps a hundred, or thereabouts. Legs of frogs, of course, are very vulgar in comparison. The taste for them seems to be on the wane. Only some 30,000, we are told, are now sold in a year. Snails, however, hold their own, especially the Burgundy ones, and millions of them are disposed of in the small popular restaurants.