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Delicious Or Disgusting? Spain's Biggest Snail-Eating Festival
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Delicious Or Disgusting? Spain’s Biggest Snail-Eating Festival

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In Lleida, 160 km north of Barcelona, there’s a culinary weekend festival devoted entirely to the humble snail. Three days, around a million snails, and 200,000 snail gourmands – and then endless grilled snails, boiled snails, snail stew, snail rice, snails with sausage or other meat… 102 snail clubs or ‘penyas’ gather together at the festival site to sample the shelled gastropods. Lleida’s snail festival is an age-old tradition, and was revived after the Franco dictatorship. In the past, the slimy creatures – known locally as ‘caracol’ – were considered peasant fare, but today they’re viewed as a delicacy.

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CREDITS
Report: Regina Niedenzu
Camera & Edit: Dirk Rensmann

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42 Comments

  1. Minh Carter

    In Vietnam we love snails! We cook them in coconut milk, steam them, grill them with lemongrass. We usually dip them in fish sauce! Delicious! I want to go to Spain now and taste these! ❤️

  3. Gustavo

    In Peru we eat the marine one in ceviche sometimes or in a paella like dish, it has a nice texture

  7. S Cross

    Land scallops! Snails are delicious and everyone should give them a try! I love them braised with butter, herbs, and wine. 🐌😋

  8. MDTRW

    I am so glad we trashed them at the Spanish Armada and at Trafalgar so the world doesn’t fall into the fashion of eating snails. Britain single handedly saved a ton of snail and frog population from her southern neighbours

  11. Bo Wei

    Both land and river snails are delicious if cooked right. Just had some bad snails last night at a French restaurant. It was fishy and ruined the entire dish for me.

  12. frantsel

    Can you guys come hop over to my garden? Those damn snails are eating all my vegetables.. :((

  16. Eridon Duka

    Murders … not a festival at all… poor those creatures … need a second wave of corona for that I guess.

  18. bao nguyen

    I honestly dont know why some ppl find eating snails is 😱 .Its a delicacy . But As far as i know ,in Vietnam we only eat river and sea snails I dont think we eat land snails

  19. Samuel Anketell

    Oh yeah let's all burn thousands of pounds of jet fuel flying to Spain to try slimy little boogers. Who cares about the environment huh?

  22. Georges Feydeau Feydeau

    I'm ridiculously squeamish when it comes to my food, but well prepared snails are just lovely (I have only eaten them in Spain and France; I know other countries are also very fond of this ugly looking delicacy).

  24. George W Bush Center for Intelligence

    I used to cook about 20 orders of snails everyday escargot. We had special plates for the snails each plate had indentations for each snail i would put a little garlic compound herb butter on each snail then put them under the broiler served with from puff pastry made by a real baker who happens to practice witchcraft as a hobby.

  25. kuratr

    these snails are way better than the well known french escargot, which is usually very chewy and rubbery. people who haven't tried them please do. you will be amazed

  27. d M

    moroccan snails cooked in the most flavorful herbs and spice is my favorite. i drink the broth because of the herb and spice

  34. Nevada Tan

    I would love to get over the cringe factor and enjoy snails.

    It's totally ridiculous how the mind plays tricks on us.

    I mean, for example I'm terrified of spiders … But love eating crabs (which are underwater spiders, if u think about it!)

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