Successive COVID-19 lockdowns may have given people in France, as elsewhere, a newfound taste for home cooking, but one delicacy has yet to worm its way back onto the nation's plates: snails.
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With the country's restaurants closed since the start of a second lockdown on October 30, producers in France's "escargot" heartland of Bourgogne are battling to stay afloat.
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Snails cooked in garlic butter is a classic of French cuisine that has long inspired a mix of fascination and horror among tourists, particularly Britons who recoil at the idea of eating the molluscs.
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While few French people buy snails on a regular basis - they are generally rolled out during parties or the holiday season - they still regularly feature on restaurant menus.
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But with restaurants looking set to remain shuttered for several more weeks as France battles to bring down stubbornly high COVID-19 infections, snail farmers fear for their future.
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"In 2020, my sales were down by 33 percent more than forecast," producer Herve Menelot told AFP, adding that he did not pay himself a wage from June to October 2020 and was living off his savings.
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"This year is the same. I have no (trade) show coming up, no farmers' market, no restaurants. We're not very optimistic, Menelot said, adding that he feared he may have to wind down his business.
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Olivier Dard, another producer, told AFP his turnover had halved in 2020. Dard was forced to take a job with the local council to supplement the family's income.
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The French snail industry is made up of hundreds of small farmers who have been struggling to compete with cheaper imports from Eastern Europe.
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Only 5 percent of the 30,000 tonnes of snails consumed every year in France - a protected species that cannot be scooped up off a path and sold - are French. Snail farmers have received small amounts of aid from the state but say it is not enough to offset their losses.
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