Snails As Human Food
Land snails have been eaten for thousands of years, going back at least as far as the Pleistocene. Archaeological evidence of snail consumption is especially abundant in Capsian sites in North Africa, but is also found throughout the Mediterranean region in archaeological sites dating between 12,000 and 6,000 years ago. However, wild-caught land snails which are prepared for the table but are not thoroughly cooked, can harbor a parasite (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) that can cause a rare kind of meningitis.
Snail eggs, sold as snail caviar, are a specialty food that is growing in popularity in European cuisine.
Read more about this topic: Land Snail
Famous quotes containing the words snails, human and/or food:
“little snails at the back
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—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
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“We can come up with a working definition of life, which is what we did for the Viking mission to Mars. We said we could think in terms of a large molecule made up of carbon compounds that can replicate, or make copies of itself, and metabolize food and energy. So that’s the thought: macrocolecule, metabolism, replication.”
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