I must confess I've never paid attention to pickled molluscs, I do
remember mussels that's all.  French people are not so found of
pickles. I think even the mussels are in white wine, not vinaiger.
About periwinkles, sure we do eat Littorina littorea very often. It's
called here "bigorneau". You can almost allways find them in the fish
shops. To boil them in salted water, it very quickly done and so
tasty !

Sophie

>Dear all,
>
>I suppose the pickled mussels can be bought all over the world, but when in
>France, I saw supermarkets also sold jars of pickled 'periwinkles' (their
>terminology, not mine). It was obviously some sort of small gastropod. It
>this a Littorina, Sophie?
>
>Here, you get the ordinary mussels (Perna viridis), oysters, 'clams' (some
>type of venerid), pipis (Donax deltiodalis, although these are more
>frequently used for bait than human consumption), Tonna variegata and
>relatives, abalone (number of species), and I have seen people eat Turbos,
>and (although they are not shells) the insides of sea urchins.
>
>Patty

Sophie Valtat
16, rue des Ecoles
75005 Paris
France