Frog legs
[1][2] Other parts of the world that eat frog legs include Singapore, Southern China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Northeast India, Korea, Northern Italy, the Alentejo region of Portugal, Spain, Albania, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Northwestern Greece, Odesa Oblast of Ukraine, South Africa, and the Southern regions of the United States.
[citation needed] As of 2014, the world's largest exporter of edible frogs is Indonesia, followed by China and Turkey.
Frog legs, or cuisses de grenouille as it is known in France, are a traditional dish particularly found in the region of the Dombes (département of Ain).
[8] In Chinese cuisine, frog legs are usually stir-fried and mixed with light spices, stewed, fried, or made into congee.
[9] Swikee is mainly frog-leg soup with a strong taste of garlic, gingers, and fermented soya beans (tauco), accompanied by celery or parsley leaves.
Other local frog dishes include them being dipped in egg batter, breadcrumbed and then fried, or in soups and stews.
Frog legs (žabji kraki) are a popular dish in Slovenian cuisine, especially in areas of eastern Slovenia (Prekmurje and north-eastern Styria).
[13] They are also a popular traditional dish in the Vipava Valley in western Slovenia and are served in numerous restaurants in the Slovenian Littoral.
[citation needed] In the western part of Spain, Extremadura and Castilla y Leon, frog legs are served deep-fried.
[citation needed] The capture of frog legs is usually carried out in states such as Baja California, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Zacatecas, and much of the Central Plateau of Mexico.
Although the consumption of wild native frogs is generally discouraged, the harvest and cooking of invasive bullfrogs, especially in the Western US, has been encouraged as a form of control and to promote local cuisine.
Raccoons, possums, partridges, prairie hens, and frogs were among the fare Mark Twain recorded as part of American cuisine.
[21][22][23][24] Mountain chickens (Leptodactylus fallax) are frogs named for their habitat and flavor which are eaten in Montserrat and Dominica.
[25] Cooked bones of frog legs have been discovered in an archaeological dig in Amesbury Wiltshire, dating back to between 7596 and 6250 BC, evidence that indicates that they were part of the local diet.
[28] In the late 19th century, the French restaurateur Auguste Escoffier tried to rename them "nymphs" in a vain attempt to sell them to London diners.
[29] In Australia and New Zealand, frogs are more exotic, usually eaten at Asian or French restaurants and mainly the hind legs are the priority.
[30] The world's top importers of frog legs are France, Belgium, and the United States, while the biggest international exporters are Indonesia and China.
In Canada, the sale of fresh or frozen frog legs is illegal unless they are determined free from bacteria of the genus Salmonella, as per the official method MFO-10, Microbial Examination of Froglegs.
A 2011 paper raised animal welfare concerns over methods such as live removal of legs and methods of hunting, recommending that countries of origin "establish humane standards to govern the capture, handling, packaging and export of live frogs and for the capture, handling, killing, and processing of frogs used for food to minimize animal suffering".
In medieval and early modern Europe, frogs were not classified as meat and could therefore be eaten during the Christian fast of Lent, along with fish and bird flesh.
