In France, French baked snails are high-end ingredients comparable to foie gras and black truffles . Relevant studies show that the French consume at least 60,000 tons of snails every year.
On the contrary, the Chinese who are very knowledgeable about eating seem to be submissive and shy in front of the snails that the French love so much. What's going on? Don’t Chinese people like to eat snails?
Perhaps, after you understand the lessons of these two incidents, you have to "shut up quickly".
Lesson 1: In 1985, Taiwan's Jinlan soy sauce "annihilated" incident
In 1936, Zhong Fan took the lead in raising funds to establish Datong Trading Co., Ltd. in Taoyuan District, Taoyuan City, which mainly engaged in soy sauce and sauce products. The brand was named "Jinlan". In 1960, Zhong Fan resigned and was succeeded by his son Zhong Qiugui. In 1970, the company was officially renamed "Jinlan Soy Sauce".
Jinlan soy sauce is well-known at home and abroad under the painstaking management of Zhong Qiugui. He has three sons. The eldest son Zhong Defu and the second son Zhong Deshang are in charge of the Taiwan business. The third son Zhong Deheng was assigned to the United States to take charge of the overall soy sauce business.
The soy sauce business is booming, and Zhong Qiugui, who is making money every day, no longer pursues material life, but yearns for the highest state of health and Taoism.
In 1985, when Zhong Qiugui and his wife were traveling in Japan, they listened to a master's slander that eating raw snails was a "great tonic". So, he raised snails with green vegetables in the villa. When green feces came out, it was the time for "snail salad" to be served.
On June 27 of the same year, "Snail Salad" appeared on the family dinner table. The whole family is enjoying themselves, and the snails have a unique flavor when dipped in their own soy sauce.
Just when everyone was still immersed in the wonderful fantasy of eating raw snails to replenish the body, the five members of the family present began to have headaches, nausea, blurred vision and mental abnormalities. When the servant saw this, he quickly sought medical advice.
It was considered timely to send him to the hospital, but it was still a step too late. It was diagnosed that Zhong Qiugui and his wife, Zhong Qiugui's mother, and two sons, Zhong Defu and Zhong Deshang, were all seriously infected with the infectious disease Angiostrongylus cantonensis.
Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a terrible parasite that often lives in animals such as land snails, freshwater shrimps, toads and snakes. Once humans are provoked by it, it will directly attack the human brain, causing injury and disability in mild cases, and death in severe cases.
Unfortunately, four members of the Jinlan family, including Zhong Qiugui, who were lying in the hospital, were soon declared brain dead. Only Zhong Deshang, whose life was hanging by a thread, was still fighting with the god of death. However, paralyzed Chung Deshang also passed away after struggling for 10 years.
At that time, only the third son Zhong Deheng, who was far away in the United States, survived. At that time, Chung Deheng had something to do and did not rush back to Taiwan in time to attend the "Salad Snail" family dinner, so he escaped.
The culprit of this famous Jinlan soy sauce "annihilation" incident is the giant African snail, whose scientific name is brown cloud agate snail, a large and plump snail-like animal.
Lesson 2: In 2006, the Beijing Parasitic Infection Incident
Beginning in mid-June 2006, clinics and hospitals in Beijing successively received people suffering from "strange diseases". They suffered from headaches, fever, vomiting, and body pain. Some individuals also experienced convulsions and coma.
At that time, medical staff did not discover the connection between these patients and only treated them as general viral infections. What is unexpected is that these "strange diseases" are brewing a greater crisis.
On June 24, 2006, Beijing Friendship Hospital also received a patient with a "strange disease". According to the patient's description, he visited internal medicine, neurology, anorectal and other departments in other hospitals, and also took some medicine, but his symptoms were not relieved. Some doctors suspected that he was infected with some kind of parasite and suggested that he come to Friendship Hospital to seek diagnosis from Dr. Ji Aiping, a famous expert in tropical medicine.
After reading his medical records, Dr. Ji, as an expert in parasitic diseases, keenly discovered that the patient's "lumbar puncture results" and "eosinophil index" were very abnormal, and she initially judged that he was indeed infected by parasites.
After further questioning, the patient said that his ribs on both sides were in excruciating pain, and he dared not wear clothes close to his body. Even blowing the wind hurt. After questioning the patient in detail about his recent experiences, Ji Aiping definitely confirmed that the patient was infected with a very rare and special parasitic disease - Angiostrongylus cantonensis infectious disease. Later, it was confirmed through laboratory analysis.
Once a human body is infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis, it will not only cause unbearable pain, but also easily cause disability and death, and it is also highly contagious. Once this rare parasitic infectious disease becomes popular, the consequences will be disastrous. Subsequently, Dr. Ji immediately reported the situation. The hospital attached great importance to it and also contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During the investigation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that not only the symptoms occurred in Friendship Hospital, but also sporadically reported "strange disease" symptoms in other hospitals. By early July, more than a dozen cases of the "strange disease" had been exposed. It seemed that eliminating the source and curbing the spread was a top priority.
epidemic prevention and control personnel popularized some basic knowledge about possible parasites to patients. During the process of epidemic control , they found that these patients with Angiostrongylus cantonensis all have the same characteristics. They have all recently been to a restaurant in Beijing and ordered a special delicacy of the restaurant - cold snail meat.
Snails happen to be the main body that easily carries parasites. If eaten improperly, there is indeed the possibility of being infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Disease control personnel rushed to the restaurant to investigate, and sure enough, the cold snail meat, a "delicious delicacy", was the culprit of this parasitic infection.
The snail meat eaten this time is exactly the Lucky snail, which is one of the "major hazards of invasive alien species".
Fushou snails are more meaty than field snails and were introduced to my country as edible snails. Later, it was discovered that the apple snail is a veritable "rice killer" and was immediately listed as one of the "most dangerous invasive alien species". "Snail eradication operations" are also being carried out in various places.
What’s even more frightening is that the apple snail contains a variety of deadly parasites such as schistosomiasis , strongylella felis and Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Especially Angiostrongylus cantonensis, there may be 3,000 to 6,000 in an adult snail. If humans are unfortunately infected, they will be in agony and even become disabled and die.
The whole situation has finally turned around, and the spread of the epidemic has been controlled. By the end, more than 160 people in Beijing were infected with the infectious disease Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Fortunately, they were hospitalized in time and the right medicine was prescribed, which did not cause panic among the public.
This famous "Beijing Parasitic Infection Incident" also sounded the alarm to the people. Apple snails should not be eaten easily, let alone undercooked snails.
Why can French people eat snails without any problems?
The African giant snails and apple snails mentioned above all belong to different species of the family Mollusca and the class Gastropoda. The African giant snail, in addition to the brown cloud snail, is also called the cabbage snail, the dew snail and the east wind snail. It is a kind of large snail that is native to Africa.
In France, not all snails are edible. The prerequisite for being edible is that the snails grow in a high-quality environment and can only eat snails that have not been contaminated or harmed.
Therefore, the first three snails favored by the French are the Burgundy snail from Burgundy , the small gray snail and the large snail.
Among the famous dishes in French cuisine, snails are a high-end ingredient comparable to foie gras and black truffles. At least 60,000 tons are consumed a year. When there is not enough food, France needs to import it from surrounding countries.
Why do French people like this? This is because snail meat is delicious and has extremely high nutritional value. Its protein content is three times that of beef, and its cholesterol content is almost zero. It contains more than 20 kinds of amino acids , which are essential for the human body and can be well absorbed.
Therefore, snails are called "the gold of meat" in France. In terms of world cuisine, French snails are also a delicacy that is as famous as abalone .
When French people eat snails, they generally use the cooking and baking method.In the first stage, they choose fresh and high-quality snails, wash them and take the meat, cook the meat and put it into the original snail shell.
In the second stage, stuff the spices prepared in advance, and then add garlic, parsley, cheese, truffle, breadcrumbs, caviar and other ingredients according to personal preference. Finally, brush with butter and put it in the oven to bake slowly. It usually takes 15 to 20 minutes to bake until the butter continues to bubble.
The reason why French people have no problem eating snails is mainly because the snails themselves have very few parasites. Even if they do, the parasites are completely killed during the cooking and long-term baking process.
Why do Chinese people not like to eat snails?
Many delicacies in France require customers to wait. Just like snails, it takes at least about 30 minutes from processing to final serving. A serving of snails requires customers to wait for 30 minutes. In the dining habits of Chinese people, this is definitely not feasible.
In addition, China rarely has Burgundy snails, small gray snails and large loose snails that are commonly eaten in France. If you really want to eat fresh and high-quality snails, you have to fly them from France on the same day. The price is also quite expensive. For ordinary people, this is not a blessing.
Furthermore, in order to save costs, some Western restaurants in China like to pass off inferior products to confuse the public. In the original French baked snail dish, only the snail shell may be from French snails, and the snail meat inside may come from other snails or meat products. After spending a high price, we got a poor experience and people didn’t like to eat it.
Also, authentic French baked snails are made on a special plate. There are only 6 round holes on a plate specifically for placing snails. Just imagine, you paid a high price and waited for half an hour, but got a "side dish" with only 6 snails. It would be better to have a stir-fried snails .
The most important thing is that the many bloody lessons caused by the giant African snail and the apple snail have made it unforgettable for most Chinese people. It is our duty to take responsibility for our own health. No one wants to make the same mistakes as the Taiwan Jinlan Soy Sauce "annihilation" incident and the Beijing parasitic infection incident.
