Thieves have stolen €90,000 worth of snails destined for some of the country’s most prestigious restaurants, The Times reported end of November.
Jean-Mathieu Dauvergne, the grower, said he was in a state of “shock” after discovering 450kg of snails had disappeared from his farm in Bouzy, in the Champagne region of eastern France.
Dauvergne was due to supply fresh and frozen snails to restaurants across the region for Christmas, including the Michelin-starred Domaine les Crayères in Reims, which serves them in puff pastry.
The theft is the latest blow to a struggling sector. Although the French consume up to 14,300 tonnes of snails a year, around 95% of them are imported, according to the Chamber of Agriculture, mainly from Romania, Belgium, Turkey, Hungary, Greece and Indonesia.
France has 271 snail farms, and Dauvergne’s, L’Escargot des Grands Crus, is one of the most famous.
“We are starting to become famous and that has certainly attracted thieves,” he told Le Parisien.
He said he lost his entire year’s production in the theft between Sunday night and Monday morning.
“They cut the wire fence, broke the door with a pickaxe, broke the motion-sensor lights and then went for the cold storage. It is very surprising because they stole 450 kilograms of snails. It is incredible that they stole so many. It must be the work of a very well-organized network.”
He added that the snails were enough for 10,000 meals, adding in a Facebook post that the theft was “a very heavy blow,” estimating the loss at 90,000 euros.
Commander Remy Dubois, a police officer in Epernay, said that Dauvergne snails are “worth almost as much as champagne.”
Illustrative Photo by Nadin Sh: https://www.pexels.com/photo/escargot-snails-with-filling-18416960/
