Posted by Robert Dilley on November 05, 2004 at 17:45:18 from 65.39.13.79 user rdilley.
In Reply to: Re: Winkles posted by Dave Thewlis on November 05, 2004 at 14:55:26:
Unless there has been a mutation of shellfish this side of the Atlantic, Dave, the refrain should be:
"Cockles and mussels alive, alive-o."
As for escargots, I first faced them as a student visiting Andorra where they appeared one night at the small family hotel I was staying in. All the other guests watched interestedly to see how I coped. Actually, I found them quite tasty, though I've only had them a couple of times since.
There is a good bit in one of the Paddington Bear stories, which were favourites of my kids before I weaned them onto AR. The Brown family go on a trip to France, and Paddington whips up a stew which everyone praises until he informs them that the meat ingredient was snails.
There's a fascinating branch of Cultural Geography that deals with what people in different parts of the world think is tasty and what disgusting. I haven't read Missee Lee for quite a while (it's my least favourite book) but I seem to remember there was a certain amount of suspicious poking around by the Ss&As at some of the Chinese meals.
["Least favourite" AR book -- still well ahead of most others.]