Frogs Divide England and France

“Now a terrapin, a turtle, a clam or an oyster is subject to all the same natural repulsion as a frog, and an oyster is particularly objectionable in appearance and slimy suggestiveness.” —  Eight “Delmonico” pattern oyster forks 

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Gilded Age Frog Legs...

Money Can Be Made by Raising Them —

If You Do Not Like a Frog Dinner There Are Plenty of Others That Do

Crispy frog legs are a delicacy in many countries ~ “... the bones of frogs’ legs may be eaten in part with the fingers when the legs... are so small as to defy all but the most expert trencherman.” Such small bones are held in the fingers by one end while the other end is placed directly in the mouth. The impression of gnawing the bone must be avoided. It is no shame, by the way, for a lady confronted with a squab or half a broiled chicken to ask assistance from the gentleman with her in dissecting it unless perhaps she’s at a formal dinner. This is better than running the risk of having the meat land in her lap or, on the other hand, going hungry, if she is really inept.- Amy Vanderbilt etiquette for eating small birds or frog’s legs

Did you ever eat a frog dinner? Never, you will say. Then you have missed something. “Nasty things! The idea!” may be the exclamation of a young housewife who would not shrink from a terrapin stew, a turtle steak, a clam fry or a half-dozen oysters raw on the half shell. Now a terrapin, a turtle, a clam or an oyster is subject to all the same natural repulsion as a frog, and an oyster is particularly objectionable in appearance and slimy suggestiveness. 

Frogs are supposed to divide England and France, gastronomically speaking, as sharply as the English Channel does geographically. One of the first things which sensible Americans did after the colonies had thrown off the yoke was to disembarrass themselves of all silly insular prejudices. They began eating frogs, French fashion. In many of the Eastern States, frogs are as common as chickens or chops in the windows of restaurants.

It takes quite a number of frogs to furnish a square meal, because only the hind legs are eaten. A frog dinner comes high. It is comparable in price only to reed birds on toast, or quail in the first of the season. Fried in batter a dozen frog’s legs would tempt any epicure. A very dainty spring chicken is the best suggestion, but the frog is tenderer than that. Yes, there is money in frogs if the work of raising them is set about in the right way.— San Francisco Call, 1893

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