01.
Snails, AKA escargot, belong to
the same family (Gastropoda) as the
abalone and conch, and are just as tasty.
02.
Snails are rich in calcium, low in calories, high in proteins and contain plenty of vitamins B1 and E.
03.
A common food in ancient Greece, snails are still popular in Greece today, especially on the island of Crete.
04.
Cretans have at least 300 diffe-rent recipes for snails, including boiled with vegetables, cooked in a casserole and fried in olive oil.
05.
Snails were brought to the States in the 1850s by a Frenchman who intended to breed them for sale as food. His venture failed, he dumped them in the wild, and from there they went forth, multiplied and moved to people’s backyards.
06
Snails were farmed in ancient Greece. Submerged tanks were found off the ancient city of Aperlae. These, archeologists say, were used to breed Murex snails.
07.
The shells of Murex snails were the source of an expensive, long-lasting dye called Tyrian Purple; cloth dyed this color could only be worn by the aristocracy.
08.
Snails were also used for weather divination. Hesiod wrote that harvest time had arrived when snails began to climb the stalks.
09.
In British folklore, warts were said to be cured by rubbing a black snail over the affected area. The unfortunate snail must then be impaled upon a Hawthorne.
10.
Snails produce a clear and
sticky discharge as they move along. This provides such an effective
protective barrier that they can
move along the edge of a razor
without harm.
11.
The origin of the myth of Cupid’s love darts might have come from the ancient Greek’s observation of the snail: snails shoot darts into their mates to improve the chances of conception.
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