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Snail farmer coaxing foodies
20 Apr 2004
Sonya Begg, a snail farmer in Orange, NSW, wants to replace imported tinned escargots with her fresh home-grown variety. She hopes they'll become a gourmet staple in Australia. On Saturday Mrs Begg's Ross Hill Cool Climate Snails, marketed in association with a local winery, will supply her snails and other produce for the annual black tie Food of the Orange District Week dinner. The dinner will come at the culmination of the snail-breeding season, which runs from October to April.
By next year, Mrs Begg hopes to have enough stock to supply local restaurants on a regular basis. In a few years, she aims to be supplying snails bred on a free-range area of the winery.
Last year, Mrs Begg won the Silver Snail Award in recognition of her contribution to snail farming in Australia. The award was presented by the Associazione Nazilonale Elicicolotria, the Italian Snail Farming Association, in Italy's snail capital, Cherasco. Mrs Begg wants Orange to become the Cherasco of Australia. She says snails are "very interesting little animals" which don't kick or bite.
Sydney Morning Herald, 20/4/04.
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