# On a menu, is escargot meat or seafood? (nm) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2002, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-a-menu-is-escargot-meat-or-seafood-nm/124580 "2002-08-19T12:19:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-a-menu-is-escargot-meat-or-seafood-nm/124580/21 "2002-08-20T08:04:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Princesshumble \* > \*\*If we define seafood as “food that lives in the sea,” then by this logic, Phreatobius Walkeri , the only known fish in the world that solely lives on land, would NOT be found under the seafood section on a menu, which is absurd. > PW is a small, wormlike catfish and was found in the middle of the 1980s in Brazil. This species lives a full life on land among fallen leaves near the river. If it is returned to water, it will quickly jump out of it again. This fish is currently placed in the Pimelodidae family but has many similarities with the Trichomycteridae. \*\* If it’s freshwater, I wouldn’t class it as seafood either. I’ve seen catfish categorized as “fish” but never as “seafood”. Anyway, who would want to eat something small and wormlike? ---
**Author:** ![Zorro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ad7895/32.png) [@Zorro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zorro)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-a-menu-is-escargot-meat-or-seafood-nm/124580/22 "2002-08-20T13:24:22Z")
Being French, I have a fair amount of experience of eating snails both in restaurants and at home, and I have never heard anyone suggest that they were seafood. For a start, they live on land - hang, some pedant is going to get me for that - I mean that the most commonly eaten _escargot de Bourgogne_, lives on land. They are however not in any way confined to Burgundy, as I spotted some in my friend’s garden in Kilburn, North London, on Sunday. They’re not only eaten as an appetiser, but this is their most frequent culinary incarnation. However, they’re a land animal, so they’re meat. What really matters is that they’re really, really good, except made _à la Provençale_. The same goes for frogs’ legs. It’s a crap recipe. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-a-menu-is-escargot-meat-or-seafood-nm/124580/23 "2002-08-20T18:25:01Z")
Where on the menu? How about “From the Garden…” ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-a-menu-is-escargot-meat-or-seafood-nm/124580/24 "2002-08-20T22:33:44Z")
What do the Jews say? Kosher or no? ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-a-menu-is-escargot-meat-or-seafood-nm/124580/25 "2002-08-20T22:38:56Z")
What does the (nm) at the end of your topic line mean? ---
**Author:** ![Zazie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Zazie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zazie)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-a-menu-is-escargot-meat-or-seafood-nm/124580/26 "2002-08-20T22:48:38Z")
I agree with Zorro (must be French camaraderie!). To me, they live on land, have nothing to do with the Ocean/Sea… they’re meat! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-a-menu-is-escargot-meat-or-seafood-nm/124580.md?page=1)