Why we avoid it:

Although they’re a delicacy in France, a lot of other cultures have a hard time looking at slime-trailing snails as food. Gardeners consider snails as pests that eat our food, so why would we eat them as food? Some consider the texture unpleasantly chewy and gooey. Besides, snails are nothing more than slugs with a shell. And we don’t eat slugs (but maybe we should).

Why we should eat it:

Virtually fat-free, carbohydrate-free and sugar-free, escargot are an excellent source of lean protein. They’re rich in iron, magnesium, selenium, phosphorus and potassium. Like other mollusks, snails are a good source of tryptophan, an amino acid that helps the brain produce serotonin. Serotonin is a very important neurotransmitter that plays a role in your body’s regulation of sleep impulse and appetite. Eating tryptophan-rich foods may help improve your mood, which might explain why snails are too mellow when they need to get somewhere fast.