European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 12, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 the stars and stripes january 1981 modern living meaty molluscs by Susan Heller Anderson new York times beware of the snails warns a sign on the out skirts of Santa an agricultural California town 100 Miles North of san while ranches Are a Way of life Francois Picard has the Only Snail with a Herd of hundreds of thousands of the edible and is now bringing them to american tables under the Label f Pic Ard snails dont have a Good image said a 33yearold Frenchman from 300 Miles South West of there a pest in that the wrong there not a pest in France because everyone cats them As soon As they the California Snail is the variety known in France As the Petit the Helix Asper a brought to North America by French according to 6 when Picard came to the United states several years ago from a family of he worked in French i knew there was a Snail shortage in France because we had trouble finding in imports most of its snails from Turkey re exporting them after in some regions the molluscs Are considered endangered and can be gathered Only a a certain season for personal i knew there must be snails Here so i asked every where the department of friends they thought i was but one Day a Friend crushed one in the Garden and i saw it was a Petit gris he began gathering them in Santa i went to the botanical Garden and made a Deal with the Gardener not to use then i saw an Artichoke Farmer on to who was invaded by snails and i bought his for 10 cents a he purchased two and a half tons from the Farmer and one ton from his which got him snails have been part of mans diet for a Long with huge Mounds of Snail shells found in digs dating from the Stone both greek and roman historians recorded the eating of in his informative Booklet on Snail Histo credits the romans with being the first Snail fattening the molluscs in wine and herbs after harvesting he is himself a Snail gathering them from other sources rather than raising them and proc Essing them in his kitchens at Santa after starving for 24 hours to purge he feeds them wheat meal and bran for two to three since Picard started his Enterprise nearly two years ago he has had plenty of time to observe Snail behaviour and snails new York times Christopher Springman California Snail rancher Francois professes a fondness for the its hard to relate to a Snail there deaf and they dont but there pretty a Snail has a you can make them race or pull they go six months a year without food or and they have a great sex life snails mate for after that there both snails Are Herma Phro k after the snails have been fattened they Are starved Agam for two then blanched in boiling water and removed from the the snails Are washed several and Quick Frozen until the final Picard poaches the the blanched snails for 30 minutes in salted water seasoned with herbs grown in his they Are then packed in two or three differ ent ways six butter bathed escargots in Ceramic Snail dishes refills of the snails Only and in Industrial sizes for the Snail butter is a fragrant mixture of Sweet and salted Parsley and Picard food processing License from the state hangs in a Corner of his close sized Complete with a television set transformed into a Snail the state didst know what category to put me so in licensed As a Chicken his snails Are tender rather than which he says is one Way to detect the fake snails often passed off As escargots in american the Chatina Fulicea is a land Snail that lives in there often Frozen in Taiwan and canned in then exported with a picture of a real Burgundy j How can the consumer Tell the difference if its Hal Price its he open the lid and if it smells like a its real snails smell like newly Cut with his sense of humor about the Picard views himself As the snails Best his Book is peppered with cartoons showing snails crossing the Atlantic in the the sail California or Cavemen flipping Snail shells on the floor while relaxing on and two amorous snails in one he papers the City with posters wanted common Garden 25 cents per Pound re i buy them from kids because its fun for kids to sell he also dispenses free snails to his understanding neighbors who might otherwise not care for the proximity of so Many of the Snail aprons and shopping bags Are also part of his snails have some Way to go before they Are a completely accepted food on american a lot of people want to eat but they dont want to face a by Erma Bombeck at wits end we Are a country of our politics Are our Faith is our foods and customs Are Multi and our morals Are up for never Are these differences More evident than when we come across a child who is having a temper Tantrum and what to do about just to in not talking about your harmless Little  impeding of a child who Doest want to go in the deep end of the swimming in talking your  Mance of a child lying on the floor like a pile of laundry screaming and crying with a voice thai Shat ters the child whose limbs have turned to whose face is swollen beyond recognition with whose very life is draining out of his body because he is tired and wants to be carried at the same moment you Are carrying 50 pounds of groceries and a seven month fetus inside the sad fact is mothers do not stick with their own in a temper i found this out quite painfully one summer when my toddler entwined himself around my leg in a supermarket and chanted one for 35 the weight of dragging him on my leg be came quite annoying and i said to him no the next thing i know he had pulled Over the entire gum i whacked him on the Bottom and began picking up pieces of rolling gum amid a hysterical kid in that was a touch this is the kind of support i got from the what kind of Mother can stand to hear her child cry like that he needs that what he id say be needs probably Doest get any at i saw her she held his Little Arm so i thought she would pull it out of the she  afford a Lousy piece of Bubble gum Shes the one who should get spanked for not keeping an Eye on getting up from my i reached Over to pick up my son it was then that he gave his performance his big finish he flinched the crowd loved one woman i dont know Why god gives children to people like that i and i want going to do it Nanymo c Field enterprises