Snail stew, anyone?

Some Kenyan farmers are getting out of the cow business . . . and into the giant African snail business. The move makes sense—even though not everyone likes to gnaw on gigantic gastropods.

Perks of raising giant African land snails:

• They multiply fast. One can produce up to 500 eggs about every two months.
• Cheap! To raise the snails, farmers need a license from the Kenya Wildlife Service. That costs 1,500 Kenyan shillings—less than 13 U.S. dollars.
• They’re easier than cattle to care for.
• Delicious? That’s a matter of opinion. Nutritious? That’s a fact. Snails contain protein, iron, calcium, and vitamin A. They’re also low in fat.

Take it from Rose Kabura. She is now a snail farmer. She stands in her plot in the outskirts of Thika, a town in Kenya. “They are not noisy,” she says of her snails. “They are not smelly.” She also says they don’t take up a lot of space like cattle or pigs.

People in Kenya and around the world feast on snails. They put them in (yes) snail stew. Or they fry them up with spicy peppers. Around two pounds of snail meat goes for about 2,500 Kenyan shillings. (That’s 25 U.S. dollars.) Ms. Kabura is raising 4,000 snails. Eventually, she wants to keep 100,000. She could make a pretty profit!

Ms. Kabura feeds her snails every day in the morning and evening. She has something few farmers enjoy: spare time.

To Prepare a Giant African Snail . . .

• Boil in a pot of water for five minutes.
• Use tweezers to pull the cooked snail from its shell.
• Squeeze lemon juice on top. Scrub the sliminess off the snail.
• Rinse, rinse, rinse!
• Now proceed with the snail-licious recipe of your choice.

Why? Gastropods remind us that God loves variety and He loves to create things that are useful.