Serious Snail Shortage Affecting Europeans
by Susan Davis on 10/27/09 at 11:27 am
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These tasty little morsels may soon be off the menu
Escargot, the popular but pricey, and now, somewhat endangered delicacy, could vanish from upscale European eateries if new supply sources aren’t found.  Inventories of snails are falling, due to the ravaged woodland environments where they breed, as well as the reduced profits in producing this luxury food on the very labor-intensive snail farms.
Served with butter, garlic and some crusty bread, escargot is a favorite dish in French-inspired restaurants, but it may be withdrawn from the menu unless more of the little critters find their way to market.  A snail shortage would not sit well with many diners, since in addition to being tender and flavorful, escargot is often considered aphrodisiacs. So no stone will be left unturned in finding replacements for this beloved dish.
That’s where the country of Belarus can help. It appears there are massive colonies of snails crawling around Belarus’ forests, just waiting for entrepreneurs to find a way to export them to waiting Europeans. The problem, however, is finding the labor to do the dirty work of collecting the creatures from their natural environment. There are very few workers willing to spend all day bending over the floor of a soggy forest, hunting escargot for European consumers, so the Belarus government is considering using prisoners to supplement the labor pool.
The snails coming out of Belarus are considered the highest quality; last year, more than 100 tons were exported, mostly to France. European Union consumers, primarily France, Italy and Spain, gobble up an estimated 80,000 tons of escargot annually.
If buying from Belarus doesn’t work out, perhaps they should contact the state of California, where the Santa Barbara Independent reports that the snail population is doing an estimated $7 to $10 million damage annually. With their budget crisis, I’m sure Governor Schwarzenegger would be happy to make a deal.
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