Romans ate snails

03-07-2012, 06:23 AM

french user   Location: Near Tours, France about 47°10'N 0°25'E 1,838 posts, read 895,913 times

Quote: Originally Posted byLondonAreaWeatherSummary  No other nation eats snails and frogs. Thats why its famous. Eating snails is a culinary tradition that comes from the Roman empire. Eating snails traditionally exist in many other mediterranean nations, in Spain, Greece and regions of Italy. That said, we canno't say that nowadays snails is part of everyday meal in most of these countries, France included. A lot of french people actually have never eaten snail, and the people who did, usually do it once or twice a year...  To answer the question about french food, it is important to say that traditional french food is different from the "haute cuisine" that is famous in posh hotels or fancy restaurants.  The "true" french food is usually made of simple regional dishes. It is dufficult to give a precise exemple since what defines french food is its variety. We could define traditional french food as being a relation to a specific area, what we call "terroir". Often you just have to move 50kms to find different specialities, depending you are close to the Atlantic, the mediterranean, the Alps or Pyrennes, the central montains, etc... you will find different kinds of dishes. Each region is known for its own raw-milk cheese, its own kind of wine, its own kind of smoked ham, paté or charcuterie. In that sens french food habits is very similar to what defines Spanish or Italian food: diversity, fresh use of local products, sea food in regions with ocean or sea, hams in montains, olive oil,courgettes and tomatoes near the mediterranean, butter and cider in oceanic areas, duck in the south west, etc... And the most important red wine drinken with everyday meals in almost all regions (exepted the extreme northernmost borders; Britanny, Normandy and Belgian bordering areas; where grapes don't grow, and where beer or cider predominates)

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