French specialty: snails from Burgundy ... made in Poland!
In Poland, breeders specialized in heliciculture are multiplying at high speed. They were three in the early 2000s, they are now more than 300 in total to focus on the breeding of snails. If it is booming, the culture of these small animals is not new in Poland: for decades, the country has indeed sold snails to France. It was at the time a wild species, Helix pomatia, which was collected in the wild and served nevertheless as a basis for the preparation of snails of Burgundy prepared in their shell with parsley butter. Today protected, this species can only be collected for a month, between the end of April and the end of May, and the animal must be at least three centimeters.
The disappearance of snails from Burgundy has been a reality for a long time in France, specialists also question too much use of pesticides, and this is the reason why snails in Poland, which look exactly like Burgundy snails, have been adopted.
French specialty par excellence, snails have also long figured in the Polish gastronomic tradition, before disappearing mostly books of receipts after the Second World War. They are experiencing a renewed interest, related to the improvement of the standard of living since the fall of the communist regime, and enter for example in the composition of pierogi, a dish traditional Polish ravioli.
