Polish snails take on Paris

An edible snail (Helix pomatia): photo - wikipedia

Some 38 companies from across Poland are taking part in the event, which is being held under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Waldemar Pawlak.

Meetings are being held between producers and the suppliers to some of France's leading supermarkets.

Janusz Pienkowski, head of promotion, trade and investment at the Polish embassy in Paris has told the Polish Press Agency that besides snails, products to have drawn a great deal of interest include smoked fish, particularly salmon,

Other hits are fresh fruit juices and beef.

Although Poles do not traditionally eat snails, Poland is not new to exporting snails to France.

One of several Polish companies active in this field is The Combined Agricultural Cooperative in Lubnica, central Poland (RKS Lubnica), which has been farming snails for twenty years.

Some 90 percent of RKS Lubnica's snails are exported to France, and the remaining ten percent go to Spain, Germany, Italy and Greece.

Meanwhile, the National Institute of Animal Production in Balice notes that there is growing interest in snail farming in Poland.

In 2005, Jacques Pommier, the organiser of France's largest snail-eating festival, sung Poland's praises after local farmers ran out of stocks.

“The snails we ate almost all came from Poland,” he reflected after diners chomped their way through 96,000 molluscs at a special banquet.

“We are absolutely not against Polish snails – we welcome them,” he said. (nh)