Hofstetter/Clément would, says Gisèle Robinet, 'provide 150kg, 200kg for every fair, all from his lakes and all caught by him'. A true Frenchman, his catchphrase, oft-quoted around these parts, was that frogs 'are like women. Nowadays, none of the frogs are even French.Īccording to Boeuf, Clément, whose real name was Hofstetter, moved to the area in the early 1950s looking to raise langoustines in the Saone river the water proved too brackish and he turned to frogs instead. When the fair began, its founder René Clément, resistance hero, restaurateur and last of the great Lorraine frog ranchers, could supply all the necessary amphibians from his lakes 20 miles or so away. Between them, they consume anything up to seven tonnes of frogs' legs.īut there's a problem. According to Roland Boeuf, the 70-year-old president of the Confrererie de Taste-Cuisses de Grenouilles de Vittel, or (roughly) the Vittel Brotherhood of Frog Thigh Tasters, which has organised the event since its inception, the fair regularly draws upwards of 20,000 gourmet frog aficionados to the town for two days of amphibian-inspired jollities. This is Vittel's 37th annual Foire aux Grenouilles.

'Isn't it just great?' yells Jacky's diminutive wife, Frederique. Souffle, cassolette and gratin de grenouilles.Įverywhere you look, people are nibbling greasily on a grenouille, licking their fingers, spitting out little bones. Omelette de grenouilles aux fines herbes. There's pizza grenouille, quiche grenouille, tourte grenouille. The more daring are offering cuisses de grenouilles à la vosgienne, à l'andalouse, à l'ailloli. Nine with a beer or a glass of not-very-chilled riesling.

Seven euros, or thereabouts, for a paper plateful, with fries. All offer the same thing: cuisses de grenouilles à la provencale (with garlic and parsley), cuisses de grenouille à la poulette (egg and cream).

Still like a frog