Our viands

Would it not pay Cape Colonists to institute ' cochlearia ' of the great Tiger snail for the French or Portuguese markets? Anyone who has passed through the Lisbon fruit market in autumn, must have noticed the huge baskets of snails for sale, and in Madrid and other wealthy Spanish cities as many as fifteen different kinds may some- times be counted on the slabs of the dealers. In Italy they are equally popular, but no sooner are the Alps passed than the snail begins to disappear from the menus, until, by the time Denmark and Sweden are reached, it is never seen on the table.* * Friends report that, having at Barcelona been served with a very tempting dish, ornamented with large snail shells, they partook of it and enjoyed it greatly, believing the snails to be still in the shells, but after having eaten the savoury morsels, they discovered they had been eating the snails, the shells being empty and used only as garnishing. ISO OUR VIANDS Our French neighbours have of late years suffered con- siderably from a scarcity of escargots, for it was found that the sulphate of iron used to destroy the phylloxera, also poisoned the snails, and rendered them wholly unfit for food, so that it became necessary to have snail farms, in order to guarantee them on the market as free from the sulphate, and consequently wholesome. ' E scar got s a la mode de Burgogne' are not to be despised as a food. Stewed in butter, with eggs and savoury herbs, they might well tempt even a prejudiced English palate, but then you must not whisper snails to the eater, although snail feasts are still known to the glass-workers of Newcastle. Perhaps in these feasts the snails are conspicuous by their absence ; but in Greece, snails dressed with garlic are still a favourite dish. Much has been written of late in recommendation of insect food, including caterpillars, cockchafers, ants, and even spiders and wire-worms.* Locusts are certainly much relished in those countries which are subject to their depre- dations, and we have seen boys in Germany greedily devour the cockchafer alive, first depriving it of its legs and wings, and declaring it was just like a nut. Fried white ants are also highly esteemed in some countries, and the grubs of bees are relished even by Englishmen, but we think some considerable time must elapse before we adopt of free will the articles of diet of which we have been writing. Siege and famine might reconcile us to some of them, but as long * Kirby and Spence tell us that spiders are eaten by Bushmen and the inhabitants of New Caledonia ; and Reaumur relates that a young lady cracked and ate every spider she came across. Anna Maria Schurman ate them like nuts. Lalande, the astronomer, was equally fond of them ; and a German, immortalised by Rosel, used to spread them on his bread like butter. UNAPPRECIATED TRIFLES 151 as we can get beef, mutton, and pork, eggs, poultry, and game, economists may write and reason as long as they please — they will not induce a score of English men and women to sit down to a dish of snails and caterpillars, frogs or mice; and even horseflesh, which is, we are told, beginning to find its way into the English market, will continue to be regarded by the vast majority as food fit only for dogs and cats.