Snails, Snails, Snails
Ex-Daily News food writer Sono Motoyama now lives in southern France, where they sure love their snails. So much so that there's even an annual Snail Festival in the town of Bompas. Located near the Spanish border and the self-proclaimed "Snail Capital of the World," it has quite a bit in common with South Philly:
"When I moved here last year from South Philly, I thought I might learn to distinguish between chenin blanc and sauvignon blanc, discover a fabulous recipe for gateau au chocolat, maybe even read Proust en francais. Then at the end of July my husband took me to a cargolade - a snail barbecue - at the self-proclaimed Snail Capital of the World, where a reported 160,000 snails were consumed. Also featured were roving brass bands, scantily clad Brazilian dancers, drunken revelers chugging quarts of pickle juice and more drunken men pretending that snails were snot coming out of their noses. It was sort of like a cross between the Wing Bowl and the Mummers Parade. Maybe I wasn't so far from South Philly after all."
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Not a snail fan? Apparently the merguez and sliced pork belly at the barbecue were awesome.
A snail of two cities [Daily News]
[Photo via Philadelphia Daily News]
