Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Twelve tons of frog legs
Last night I had a wonderful dinner of snails, frog legs and "baby rabbit" at Auberge de Fond Rose of Lyon, one of the top restaurants in one of the great gastronomic cities of the world. It was a fixed menu, and I believe the product of a mild effort to gross out the American guy, who, I might add, remained unflappable.
Frogs naturally came up in conversation. According to my hosts, during the "season" for frogs, which is apparently now, restaurants in Lyon chew through twelve tons of frog legs every day. As France's entire annual frog crop is only about twelve tons, the huge difference has to come from abroad. So where do most of the frogs imported by the restaurants of Lyon come from?
Kuwait.
Or so said my hosts, who claimed extensive knowledge of the subject. Bizarrely, though, there is no mention of Kuwait as a major frog exporter in the study, The World Market for Frogs' Legs: A 2005 Global Trade Perspective, which is available for only $795. A Google search involving "Kuwait" and "frog exports" turns up references to the FROG missile system, which is not food, even in Lyon. So what gives? This, gentle reader, is what we call a mystery.
Frogs naturally came up in conversation. According to my hosts, during the "season" for frogs, which is apparently now, restaurants in Lyon chew through twelve tons of frog legs every day. As France's entire annual frog crop is only about twelve tons, the huge difference has to come from abroad. So where do most of the frogs imported by the restaurants of Lyon come from?
Kuwait.
Or so said my hosts, who claimed extensive knowledge of the subject. Bizarrely, though, there is no mention of Kuwait as a major frog exporter in the study, The World Market for Frogs' Legs: A 2005 Global Trade Perspective, which is available for only $795. A Google search involving "Kuwait" and "frog exports" turns up references to the FROG missile system, which is not food, even in Lyon. So what gives? This, gentle reader, is what we call a mystery.
2 Comments:
By 
geoffrobinson, at
Wed Jun 22, 11:17:00 AM:
If you pick up some biere de garde I'll drive up to Princeton and get it.
Here's a link for you: http://beeradvocate.com/beerfly/city/50/
bon appetit
By 
, at
Wed Jun 22, 09:01:00 PM:
Let's be generous, and say that a serving comes to half a pound. I'm used to getting four legs in a serving so I doubt it is that much, but is 48,000 servings a day a realistic number?
