Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Not always to the swift

But for the honor, they'd probably rather be in Poland:

Hordes of French gourmets joined forces at an annual snail festival at the weekend to munch their way through a record 100,800 gastropods, organisers said Monday.

"We've beaten all our previous records, despite the rain," said Jacky Pommier, who helped organise the festival, in Digoin east of Paris.

"We had many more people than last year, with lots of holidaymakers from all over France and abroad too. Many enthusiasts would eat five to seven dozens in a single meal," he said.

Chefs used 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) of butter, 55 of parsley and 33 of garlic to rustle up the Bourgogne snails according to the traditional French recipe -- although the snails themselves came from a farm in Poland.

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