Vietnamese love snails! I hope it's not coming from a famous French tradition. Actually I have no idea since when we love snails. I remember my mom, she loved eating those small snails, we called "ốc gạo" (rice snail, probably because of their tiny size) with a...needle, we need a needle in order to take those little green meats out from the shell and dip it in incredibly tasty "sugar-sweet, lemon-sour, pepper-spicy fish sauce". When I was a kid, I probably prefer to taste the sauce much more than the snail.
Later my mom also loved the other snail dish "ốc len xào dừa" (mud creeper in coconut sauce). I also like it...because of the super tasty sauce, but this time I could enjoy the snail, partly due to the unique way of eating this snail. Blow and suck it!
Bà Cô Lốc Cốc - a snail restaurant in Saigon...