When Do Food Descriptions Go Too Far?

Basil + snail = drool 

By James Mulcahy

We've all heard about "grass-fed beef" and mangelista pigs gorging on acorns but it seems that learning about the diet of the animal you're eating is going to the next level. Last night, we visited New York chef Seamus Mullen's excellent Tertulia and asked about their tasty arroz a la plancha, a unique rice dish (crispy outside, creamy inside) that is stuffed with Iberico ham, mushrooms and snails. But those aren't just plain old escargot, according to the waitress, they are "basil-fed snails." 

Hmmm. There's a fine line between providing useful and interesting information and food descriptions becoming parodies of themselves that would easily land on an episode of Portlandia. As our table ate (well, devoured) the dish we tried to suss out any hint of basil in the snails. None was found - but does it matter? There is clearly a reason to use snails that were only fed basil, as Mullen describes in this Eater piece: "The snails are from Mary Stewart in California, she forages for them (just as the Ibérico pigs might if they were let loose in the Sierra Nevada), and then feeds them only basil. They take on a lovely fennel-esque, flavor."


Well, when we hear that any giggling that went on is out the window. Short form = silly, long form = enlightening. What's the line between useful information and something that makes you say "huh?" In this case, it ultimately didn't matter - when we walked out of there you could have described us as "arroz a la plancha-fed humans." We're sure we would have tasted delicious.