Snail Hunting in Inhambane

Probably the most memorable thing I did in Africa was cook a gourmet snail dinner. This dinner consisted of three different parts.

1. Hunting for snails.

2. Cooking the snails.

3. Eating the snails.

The neighbor girls, Gilda and Nadia, led us through the bush to the bay where we found our snails. On our way to the bay, we passed through several small villages of people who would ask us what we were doing. When we told them that we were looking for snails that we planned on cooking for dinner, they would respond, "Ehhhh?", which pretty much translates to "Really?" or, "Are you f-ing serious?". Apparently eating snails is a pretty humble thing to do and the fact that three white girls were the ones doing said activity was pretty entertaining to them.

After filling our bucket with snails (which we pulled from the sand after the tide went out) we made our way back Emily's house to clean and cook the gastropods.

For the record, I love seafood. I have no qualms about eating pretty much every part of a lobster and any other animal from the sea. But I'm not gonna lie, these creatures made me nervous. The snails were a really freakishly bright green color and had a surprisingly slimy texture. After boiling the snails, we extracted the meat from their shells and pulled the gooey part off, leaving a small chewy green piece of meat.

Next, we cooked some pasta and mixed the snails in with some olive oil, salt, and parmesan cheese.

The result? A wonderfully satisfying and delicious meal.