The leading article a short time ago on "Old Recipes" has brought to light a number of curious dishes, few of which I would care to essay; but here they are, in case the spectre of rationing should become a reality.
Hedgehog, roast in clay, is familiar enough in literature, if not on the dinner table; but who has tried roast rat, served with herb sauce? And is it generally realised that the red squirrel is a delicacy superior to rabbit? The red variety, however, are becoming more and more of a rarity, and their grey cousins have not the same flavour.
As a last resort, insects are not to be despised. I have never discovered whether snails come in the insect class, but as a food their possibilities have not been neglected on the Continent.
Maybe grasshoppers, fried a la white-bait and garnished with Daddy Long-Legs, will sooner or later achieve a deserved recognition.
The Irish Times, April 22nd, 1940.