CHICAGO SUN TIMES (Illinois) 26 April 04 Frog scarcity puts French custom on last legs (Philip Delves Broughton)
Vittel, France: The dying croaks of a once great tradition were heard in eastern France Sunday where the Brotherhood of Frog Thigh Tasters, for all their fanfare, could not conceal the shaky state of French frog eating.
For the past 32 years, the brotherhood has hosted the Vittel Frog Fair, a weekend when the clinging smell of amphibians frying in garlic butter smothers the usually pine-scented spa town.
It was the brainchild of the late Rene Clement, a restaurateur and frog rancher known in life and to posterity as "Rene The Frog."
For the first few years, the frogs for the festival came from local ponds. But years of agricultural pollution and environmental protection laws have taken their toll.
Commercial farming of frogs was banned by France in 1977 to protect the species. On top of that, the hunting season has become shorter and shorter.
This weekend at the Frog Fair, none of the seven tons of grenouilles consumed during the festivities were French. All came vacuum-packed from Indonesia.
"First it was the insecticides and fertilizers being used by the farmers," said Roland Boeuf, the secretary of the Brotherhood of Frog Thigh Tasters. "They got into the water and killed many of the frogs.
"Then there are the laws. In France now, you can only hunt frogs for 15 days a year and if you catch them, you must eat them right there on the bank of the pond." He, for one, never goes frog hunting without his frying pan.
Herpetologists estimate that Asia exports some 200 million tons of frogs' legs a year, while France produces just a few dozen tons.
Boeuf says it is hard to tell the difference between an Indonesian frog and a French one on the palate. "It is all about the seasoning and the sauce."
Josette Pouchucq, president of the brotherhood, is less ambivalent: "We prefer to eat French frogs."
Frog scarcity puts French custom on last legs