Snails to Set Pace of Festival : 3-Day Event Will Feature Food, Fun

The glistening, black-bodied racer lurched forward in the last stretch, pulling ahead of his two competitors.

As soon as he crossed the finish line, his trainer gave him a reward: a gentle pat on the shell and a bit of celery, which the creature nibbled appreciatively.

“Look at this little guy,” James Pepper whispered, his face inches away from the garden snail perched atop a 13-inch wooden dowel. “Sometimes the tiniest ones are the fastest.”

It was mid-afternoon in Pepper’s office on Amar Road in the City of Industry, training time for race contestants in The Great Snail Festival, to be held March 30 through April 1. And as paid coordinator of the first-of-its-kind event, Pepper, a 39-year-old Anaheim Hills resident, was serious about promoting the snail industry any way he could.

“ ‘Pest or pate, you decide.’ That’s our motto,” said Pepper, a slim, mustachioed man with a mischievous grin. “We’re off and running, in a manner of speaking.”

The festival will take place at Industry Hills Sheraton Resort’s equestrian center and will bring together escargot connoisseurs of all sorts--everything from expert snail breeders to makers and marketers of raspberry-flavored snail caviar, snail-meat jerky and trail mix made from dried escargots.

Snails are cholesterol-free and chock full of nutrients, Pepper said. According to a volume of nutritional data provided by snail breeders, one pound of snail meat has 300 calories, is 12% to 16% protein and has 9 to 12 amino acids. And refrigerated snails stay fresh for up to 30 days, Pepper said.

But for the weak of stomach who would rather pass on snail cuisine during the festival, there will be more conventional things to do: donkey races, sack races and balloon tosses, plus food samples from local restaurants. A few days later, the resort will be host to the annual Great Western Fair and Livestock Show. Both events are funded by the 48th District Agricultural Assn.

Pepper, born in Mississippi and raised in Minnesota, said he got the idea for the snail festival last year, after working at the fair and livestock show and learning that fair manager Carol Spoelstra needed a food and trade exposition to offset the cost of her event.

“On the news that night there was something about the banana slug races in Santa Cruz,” Pepper recalled. “Then the next morning, I read a story about the president of the Snail Club of America.” A snail festival was born, and Pepper also ended up marrying Spoelstra.

The highlight of the snail bash, Pepper said, will be the races, which will award $500 to the fastest snail, and a $100 bonus if the race winner breaks the world record. That was set in England in 1988, when a snail climbed a 13-inch pole in two minutes, 31 seconds, Pepper said. In addition, $100 prizes will go to the heaviest snail and the best-dressed one (glitter and glue are welcome).

The festival isn’t offering a prize for the strangest things to do with snails. If it were, the award might go to Mary Stewart and Darlene Garver, two San Joaquin Valley breeders who claim they make and market the only snail caviar in the United States. But their efforts don’t end there. Stewart and Garver’s latest plan is to mail empty snail shells to Taiwan, to be ground up and sold as an aphrodisiac.