BEST WAY TO MAKE YOUR ESCARGOTS GO
by Caitlin Van Desusen

Best of the Bay 2006

San Francisco Bay Guardian

Outdoors and Sports

www.sfbg.com/2006bob/

Remember the sadistic childhood days of pouring salt on snails and watching them dissolve before your eyes? Wouldn't it have been better to hire a young woman dressed in striped socks, a wig, and a conical straw hat festooned with shells and floral antennae to visit your garden by the light of the moon and pluck up the little guys, using only a headlamp and her instincts? For a $20-per-hour "pail rate," Miss Snail Pail will rid your garden of snails — and if you like, tell you how to purge, fast, and cook them (snail jerky, anyone?) — and turn the shells into tiny candles ("escarglow"). She shudders at the mention of Sluggo and other pesticides, which pollute water and render the snails inedible; if you're not an organic gardener already, she'll be happy to lead you slowly but surely along the glistening trail to a pest-free and protein-filled home.
www.misssnailpail.org, (415) 350-0020