You may not be much into snails as a gastronomic treat or even as a pet but, this being a blog about Mallorca and its traditions and customs, snails it is today. Caragols or caracoles (snails) are an indispensable part of the Mallorcan cuisine, and sometimes are kept as a domestic animal, and certainly so in Sant Jordi.

Yesterday, the pueblo of Sant Jordi, near S’Aranjassa, staged its annual Fira del Caragol (Snail Fair). Snail race competitions were held for the youngsters in the afternoon and a cooking contest of dishes made with snails was staged in the evening, before the night was danced away. An invasion of snails indeed. The agricultural Fira continues today, May 20th, and if you haven’t been to Sant Jordi, this might be the day when you go.

We recently had an invasion of snails in our patio garden, much to the delight of our carniverous tortoise (Manouria emys). We catch the snails for him as he is too slow to outpace them, would you believe it?

The photo (top) was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: April 25th, 2012. The time was 11:00:23. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of lauryngreen.blogspot.com.es.

Thank you very much.