Gastronomic Growth in Gastropods

The French are facing a crisis of, well, minuscule proportions. According to Agence France Presse, the treasured petit gris, the snail Frenchmen consume some 40,000 tons of per year, is too small for modern tastes. Perhaps predictably, scientists are working on a solution. Through selective breeding, researchers say they can increase snail size 10% in each generation. Their aim is a snail about 75% bigger than the current 8- to 12-gram model.

They are in something of a hurry. Today, more than half of the snails eaten in France are imported.

Hand Over the Money and Nobody Gets Drunk

Early on New Year’s morning, thieves broke into a Canadian liquor store in Edmonton, Alberta, where they smashed a display case and stole a bottle of Scotch valued at $8,000. It was one of only 306 bottles of a 44-year-old whiskey from the Bowmore Distillery of the Scottish island of Islay.

Store manager Don Koziak told the Reuters news service he assumed it had been stolen by drunken New Year’s Eve revelers who had no idea of its worth, but two days later an anonymous caller told him the robbers had been hired specifically to steal that bottle, which was being offered for auction at a local club.

“The bottle is serial numbered. It’s engraved with a number, 249 of 306, so whoever has it will have a tough time. It’s like a stolen piece of art,” Koziak said.

So far, Edmonton police have few leads, except for a hammer, broken glass, a fingerprint and some blood left at the scene of the crime.