"Swabian Oysters" – a Coveted Delicacy

Saddle of venison? Roast beef? Or perhaps you prefer "Swabian Oysters"? This simply means: snails. Escargots used to be a popular food in Graubünden. In Sevgein in Graubünden’s Highlands there was even a "pardanonza de schnecs": on Passion Sunday, two weeks before Easter, a celebratory procession was followed by a feast, the culinary highlight of which was a course of snails.

However, snails were only allowed to be collected under certain circumstances, in all likelihood there were already regulations in place as early as the 16th century. When it was legal to collect them, one often used a small hoe which was referred to as a "zarclin", "cavaschneggs" or "sgrattaglimaias" in Rhaeto-Romansh, depending on the location.

However, snails did not only serve as food for the local population, they were also a much-coveted commodity. A letter dating from 1862, for instance, which is preserved in the Kulturarchiv Prättigau, is testimony to this. In this letter, a Heinrich Schoch from Oberhof addresses the Malans-based merchant Peter Hartmann – and expresses his willingness to advance money for collecting snails in the summer…

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