Paris/Jakarta, July 31, (dpa/GNA) – When we think of French cuisine, the first thing that comes to mind, other than snails and foie gras, is probably frogs’ legs.
You can order frogs’ legs at most restaurants in France, where they are often served fried to a crisp and seasoned with garlic.
French people eat some 4,000 tons of the traditional dish every year.
Although the French Agriculture Ministry counts the dish as a culinary heritage in the eastern region of Bourgone-Franche-Comté, most of the frogs’ legs come from abroad.
In France itself, edible frog species have been protected for decades. There are strict regulations on how many can be caught, in France and throughout most of the European Union.
In Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, grass frogs are allowed to be caught and killed under certain conditions between the end of February and April, the time in which they come to the ponds to reproduce.
However, France imports about 2,800 tons of frogs’ legs from abroad every year to satisfy demand. The dish is also popular in Belgium.
But hungry frog-eaters in Europe are causing trouble in supplier countries. Indonesia is the largest exporter of frogs’ legs, and Europe’s appetite for the delicacy not only threatens the population of rare frog species, but also the balance of ecosystems.
“The trade in frog legs is hardly regulated or monitored by the government,” amphibian specialist Ganjar Cahyadi, curator of the zoology museum in the city of Bandung on Java, told dpa.
There is no official data on the number of wild frogs in the island nation, he says. “We don’t know how many frogs are exported and how many remain in the wild.”
The situation is similar in Vietnam, another major exporter of the amphibians. The number of frogs in general has declined significantly here in recent decades, says Mai Nguyen of the animal welfare organization Humane Society International.
“When I was a child living in the countryside, it was easy to see and catch frogs. But today – almost 40 years later – it’s hard to even find wild frogs,” she says. However, the government has no plans to limit the sale or export of the animals.
The rainforests in Southeast Asia and especially in Indonesia are known for their great biodiversity. New species continue to be discovered there.
But the widespread hunting of frogs may wipe out entire species before scientists even find them, says Cahyadi, adding that more urgently needs to be done for research and, above all, for the protection of the animals.
Frogs are both prey and hunters, making them a critical part of the food chain. When it comes to reducing the population of insects such as grasshoppers and mosquitoes, the amphibians are indispensable.
“Frogs are natural insecticides. They eat insects that can cause problems for agriculture and public health,” says Cahyadi. “Without frogs, we would have to use more chemicals to control these insects.”
This would not only be detrimental to the environment, but also to people’s health.
One solution could be to focus on breeding frogs for export instead of hunting them, Cahyadi is convinced. This would also benefit the local economy and create jobs.
French fishmonger Patrick François came up with a similar idea 13 years ago. He established what was probably the first frog farm in France, in the southern village of Pierrelatte near Provence.
“I saw that people were trying to produce more and more locally. That’s why I threw myself into it,” says François, who now breeds frogs.
His project was made possible with a special frog species that scientists developed. While frogs only eat moving animals, these frogs also eat things that do not move.
From when thye are born to when they are killed, the frogs spend their time in some of the hundred or so tanks in François’ breeding hall, which is filled with the sound of water and the loud croaking of the male frogs.
François also has environmental goals in mind, when he considers the frozen imported frogs’ legs from Southeast Asia or frogs imported alive from Turkey. “The very fact that no frogs are taken from the wild,” he told dpa.
He now supplies frog legs to about a dozen upmarket customers. “No more, because our production is not enormous either.”
Meanwhile, a handful of other breeders in France have followed suit and set up frog farms. The Agriculture Ministry wrote in 2019 that the breeders produced about 10 tons of frog legs a year, and estimated that it could be significantly more in the future.
Even so, France is still only likely to supply a fraction of the nation’s total annual consumption for the foreseeable future.
GNA