SHOULD WE EAT SNAILS?

Otago Witness, Issue 2823, 22 April 1908, Page 82

SHOULD WE EAT SNAILS?

Bt Coxstanck Cltdb,

(For the Otago Witness.) The progress of the snail is proverbially slow, and his march into the affections of the English nation as a dietetic possibility will probably be tardier still. Nevertheless, when one comes to make inquiries it is astonishing to find how much snail consumption there is m this country, not -mevely " for fun " m the Fiench restaurants of Soho, but m provincial gairdens or slow-going country towns. Here we find staid Britishers who eat snails m secret, and blush to find it fame. There have been days, of course, when snail-eating was openly recognised, -.and m the memoirs of George 111 the lady author gives an excellent recipe for their preparatdon. When the prejudice against them as a diet became strong one carrot tell, but even as a medicine there are few persons who . will confess openly to eating __nglish sna-'i?, though the belief m them aa a oure for consumption is more general than is usually supposed. Many are the stories to.d concerning this belief. One wxiter, Ha.nwell Lowell, gives an account of tho introduction of tho ena.il into Keigate m 1863, when a Mr Barlow, then suffering, from some wasting complaint, consumed the juice of snails, to his great and lasting benefit. A 6tory is told j again concerning the, organist of a cathe- j dral town who privately consumes snails J for the benefit of his voice ; while still more intea'esting is the tale of the little consumptive boy who m later years confessed that he wa6 impelled as a child to eat them out of the garden, to which fact he now attributes h : <s present perfect freedom from lung trouble. It is a known J faot that a certain well-advertised cure for colds, etc., is largely composed of snails, which are f hipped to England m great eecrecy lest popular prejudice should injure the sale. Naturally, there are many persons who, while trying such a dish m France, would demur at the notion of eating English snails. Nevertheless, a lady at Strood is seriously contemplating starting a snail farm, intending, of course, to bring up her enails Frenoh fashion. Tliere is, m fact, no cleanlier article of diet than tha escargot when treated as m the French provinces, fed on vine leaves, and kept carefully from contact with the groucd. In taste it resembles the oyster, oniy lacking the saline flavour, and possessing a greater richrees. Snails are generally cheap m all southern oountries, being included m the three or four course dinner of 1 40 centimes {at the ordinary lower class Parisian restaurant. In Spain they are handed round as refreshment m the poorer parts of the house during the bull fight. Like oysters, they have their special seasons for the gourmand, but amongst the snail-workers m the provinces they are consumed all the year round. ', cannot be affirmed that the English . jiical men are responsible for the. notion Shat snails are good for the consumptive. Generally speaking, they condemn the 1 idea ; nevertheless, it remains true that consumption seems to bs very little known m the snail-eating provinces of Fiance and Italy, while we know that m t.ho equally mild "clim.ite of Australia, where social couditiorw are more favourable, there seems to be ac much of this disease as m foguy England. Its prevalence m sunny, w'l-.dy New Zea.land seems lo the lay mird especially astonishing, unless we ! assume that to some indirect extent it may hi due. to the Mimukting diet of tea ard moat, bracing to the energy, but devoid of those subaceous elements m which tl\£ superior instinct of the Southern "Eiirot psan teaches him to indulge. i "The" only thing that can be said m j ite favour is the fact that it is easily digested," writes. one Ens/liA doctor to | an inquirer, while another ascribes its ! value 'Merely to the fact that it is conii posed entirely of oily matter. The digesj tibility and * the oilincee combined are sufficient to account for its good effects as i a preventive, if not as a cure, for the I disease. Even now, when the "ovcr•i feeding" system of healing is coming to 1 discredit, diet is corsidered to be of ex- ! tremp importance, and the necessity for a fat-containing f<-cd which, however | krgelv 00-HBumed, will not cause xepul-

sion is very strongly recognised. Here the 6nail, if popular prejudice could be overcome, might servo a gocd purpose.