The weekend is almost here and you know what that means, It’s time for another Fooooooooodgasssm Friiiiiday (Just thought like making it a little more dramatic this week).
So I just got back from 11 day trip to Spain for TBEX travel blogging conference in Costa Brava and boy did I eat a lot of food, and I mean ALOT, I honestly felt like I was going to go into some kind of deep food coma by the time my trip was over. There is such a great variety of delicious fresh mouth watering food in Spain.
Today I wanted to start with something a little of the main culinary track, and on to the snail trail (No not that kind of snail trail haha), the garden dwelling kind.
Snail or cargols in Spanish are a popular dish in Catalonia. I first encountered this European delicacy when I was in the small town of Arbúcies getting my geek on for the Woods, Witches, and Bandits festival. The second was in a beautiful little restaurant called La Sala restaurant in the Llemena Valley near Girona.
Upon first inspection, I was curious and excited. As eating unique and interesting foods, is something I’m always keen for, ever since I ate Cuy (Guinea Pig) in Peru.
However, as a local Spanish man menacingly swirled his wooden spoon through a giant bowl snails, cooked in a heavenly smelling tomato based sauce. I couldn’t help but get transported back to my childhood playing in an Australian garden collecting snails that looked pretty much identical with their coiled deep brown colored shells.
Cargols in La Sala restaurant near Girona
However childhood memories aside I picked up my toothpick and went about extracting a snail from its shell so the feast could begin. I have to say that up close it didn’t look like the most appetizing thing I had seen dangling off my toothpick, however I’d come this far on my culinary snail quest so I gave it a try. I put the snail in my mouth…..
And you know what to my surprise it was actually pretty nice, The eating experience was actually very similar to eating mussels from the sea except less salty.
Out of the two Cargol dishes I tried, one cooked in a tomato and herb-based sauce and the other more lightly seasoned. I’d have to say I preferred the saucier tomato option, especially seeing as that came with local cooked Spanish bread to soak up all of that delicious snail tomato sauce.
Overall my Snail eating experience was a great one, So if you ever find yourself in Spain and want to try something a little bit different, Try heading down The Snail Trail and eat some snails.
I look forward to bringing you more foodgasmic posts about Spain in the coming weeks.
