Snails​—A Plague or a Delicacy?

BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

THE time: six o’clock in the morning. The place: town of Kavieng, in the province of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. A man takes a 1 1/3-gallon [5 L] pail and walks from his house to a vegetable plot in the backyard. It takes him about ten minutes to fill the pail​—not with vegetables but with snails! He goes through this routine every morning in an effort to stem the onslaughts of the snails so that he might enjoy some of the vegetables himself.

Years ago the snails were practically everywhere and rapidly spreading along the coastal regions of Papua New Guinea. It has been estimated that in the town of Madang alone, there were over a million of these snails. They caused a great deal of damage to food crops and gardens. Not only did they cause such in Kavieng but they were a motorist’s nightmare, especially on a rainy night. The roads were literally crawling with them. Driving and turning could be a slippery, and a noisy, experience.

But where did all the snails come from? One thing for certain, they are not natives of Papua New Guinea. They are of the variety known as the great African snail (Achatina fulica). In the native New Guinea Pidgin, they are called demdems. They were introduced to the islands of the South Pacific from East Africa via Southeast Asia.

According to the natives, Japanese soldiers brought the snail to the New Britain/​New Ireland regions of Papua New Guinea during World War II. Why? Because the very effective allied blockades prevented Japanese supply ships from reaching their troops occupying the Papua New Guinea islands. So the snails were introduced to relieve the acute shortage of food.

These edible snails have never been successfully bred in Japan because the climate there is too cold for them. But they found conditions in Papua New Guinea just perfect, so perfect that they lay up to 6,000 eggs in a lifetime. It did not take long for the demdems to multiply to such an extent that there were enough of them in just a small garden to fill a pail every day!

Efforts to Control Them

The shell of a demdem may grow to be four inches [10 cm] long. So this is a good-size snail. And being such prolific breeders, they cause considerable damage to crops and plants. What can be done about them? Once introduced, it has been virtually impossible to get rid of them. But they can be controlled.

Baits containing poisonous chemicals, such as methaldehyde, have been used with some success. Efforts have also been made to introduce cannibal-type snails that prey on the demdems. But still the demdems multiply in sufficient numbers to hold their own.

What else can be done with the snails? Well, why not meet the challenge head-on and use them for the very same purpose that they were introduced to the islands? Why not eat them?

A “Demdem” Delicacy

The Melanesians feed the demdems to their fowl and pigs. It is also recommended that they be shelled for chickens, as well as cooked or sun-dried. Pigs learn to crack the shells themselves, but they should be cooked, since pigs can get disease from the parasites carried by the snails.

If snails do not appeal to you raw, boiled, or sun-dried, be assured that there are other ways to prepare them. Just remember that in such places as Switzerland, France, Spain, China, and many parts of Africa, the lowly demdem is a delicacy! It is generally known as escargot, and it graces the tables of some of the finest restaurants.

In Papua New Guinea, a Demdem Committee was recently set up. Its purpose is to show the public how these snails can be prepared, cooked, and served. It even offers a recipe from the owner of a top restaurant in Melbourne, Australia. Whether the committee will succeed in getting the Papua New Guineans to learn the fine points of eating demdems remains to be seen.