The story of escargot, one of France's most controversial foods

Five things you didn't know about escargot:
1. The top speed that an adult snail with excellent physical fitness can reach is 6 meters per hour.
2. The snail has one leg and it moves forward while leaving a slimy trail.
3. It has two pairs of antennae, the upper pair equipped with eyes, the lower with a sense of smell.
4. The escargot is androgynous, meaning it can change its gender as needed.
5. Much to the escargot's chagrin, it is considered a delicacy in France.

Escargot – one of the great delicacies of French cuisine

There are about a hundred different types of snails, with the most delicious and highly regarded snail coming from the vineyards of Burgundy and called Gros Blanc. The classic way to serve snails is to sauté them in butter, garlic and lots of parsley, which creates a greenish sauce with a divine flavor. The snails are served in a hot metal dish with recesses in it, inside which rest a dozen or half a dozen snails.

How do you eat snails? In a self-respecting restaurant, diners are served tongs with which they can hold the hot shell and, using a small fork, remove the snail meat in a circular motion, trying (against all odds) not to splash the sauce on their shirt… In a more popular restaurant, you can do the same thing using a piece of bread to hold the shell and a toothpick. After you've finished eating all the snails, don't forget to mop up the sauce with a fresh baguette and… order another dozen!

So where should you eat snails? The most famous place for this is the village of Martigny-les-Bains, located in the northeast France, where the snail fair is held in the second week of May. However, if you don't feel like going far from Paris, I'm happy to say that quite a few Parisian restaurants serve snails as a starter. One of my favorite places in Paris is Chez Gladines, where they serve snails in three different ways (parsley sauce, Roquefort sauce or Basque sauce). Enjoy!

On Escargot and Courage in Paris by Moti Golan

My dear wife and I spent the last week of December 2017 in the city of lights, Paris. This is our fourth visit to this amazing and inspiring city, a city that, in addition to its classic chic and artistic look, acts like a legendary seduction witch that draws you into its fragrant escape to taste and touch, to sin, to drink from the cup of life's poison.

Neither my wife nor I are conservative when it comes to food. Even in the past, during our long trip to the west and south of France, we ate almost every possible French dish on the menu. But each time and with great reluctance, we rejected eating... escargots. Escargots are actually garden snails that, after being cleaned of all toxins and cooked in boiling water, are returned to their shells, filled with garlic butter, and baked in the oven for a few minutes. They are served on a round plate shaped like a shell.

On this visit, I decided that it was time to break the "disgust" barrier and in Paris, act like a Parisian and mark V on conquering another stage in the celebrated French cuisine. Well.. it was delicious! .. disgusting but delicious! The body of the escargot had a chewy and comfortable texture, after I stuck a special miniature fork into it and pulled it out of the shell wrapped in hot and aromatic garlic butter, I chewed it with a great sense of victory, looking at my astonished wife and trying to compare before me a look of a real sensual experience, oh well, I'm not an actor.

My wife, Sigal, impressed by my courage, decided to taste one escargot. She also liked it.

Then, when we returned to our country house in the Upper Galilee, I saw on the driveway my dear friends from home. The escargots. Yes, the Israeli escargots, the ones that try to enter our house at all times, the ones that I try and be very careful not to step on by mistake, the ones that even our cats don't touch, the ones that leave behind a shiny, moist slimy trail.

And what worries me the most is that I find myself looking at the bareness in our yards differently than before, with the gaze of a predator with a slight, evil smile on his face, a tainted predator.

And the naked women? They look at me in horror.