‘…people would need to be very weak in the head… before it would occur to them to go into the garden and eat snails…’
Anon. (1867)
Delighted to announce that my essay “A short history of snail-eating in Britain” will be in October’s issue of British Wildlife magazine. This is a topic that’s intrigued me for many years because it has a close connection to the snail-eating habits of folks (my own family included) in the area of the north-east of England where I grew up. Hopefully it will also interest, and surprise, the readers of British Wildlife!
Prof. Jeff Ollerton - ecological scientist and author 
I used to quite often find Roman snails when walking the paths of the old railway lines around Luton and surrounding Hertfordshire. They seemed to have a liking for hemlock patches, so maybe that helped preserve them! Some looked as big as pool balls. Impressive sight, but I’d think they would have needed carving rather than winkling out! 🙂
So Roman Snails are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) which may also have helped!
I used to get a bit worried when they spread out from the hedgerows on damp days, as they were so big, you could have filled a bucket in no time. When it was dry they tended to be stuck on the hemlock stems. It was quite a popular path out of the Lea Valley Park, so they seemed quite exposed.
I so often used to find the empty shells along old railway paths that I wondered if they used to serve them on the trains, but these were mostly little single track lines. Maybe brought in with the ballast?
Also now recall there was years ago, someone who was trying to get a business going to produce snail eggs as a kind of caviar. I guess it didn’t catch on! 🙂
There is a bit of a trend for ‘snail farming’ at the moment – see: https://www.countrylife.co.uk/news/snail-farming-sweeping-across-countryside-205772
Ah: what goes around comes around. I guess it must be all the gastro pubs! 🙂