Frog legs () are the muscular of that are consumed as food by in some . Frog legs are rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, and potassium.
In French cuisine, they are considered a national delicacy.
As of 2014, the world's largest exporter of edible frogs is Indonesia, followed by China. In Brazil, Mexico, and the Caribbean, many frogs are still caught wild. are raised commercially in certain countries, including Vietnam.
In world cuisines
France
Frog legs, or cuisses de grenouille as it is known in
France, are a traditional dish particularly found in the region of the
Dombes (
département of
Ain). Eaten for over a thousand years, they have been part of the national diet of France.
Roughly 4,000 tonnes of frog legs are consumed every year in France.
China
In culinary environment, frogs are known in
Mandarin Chinese as (, literally 'field chicken'). Frog legs () are also eaten in China, but are generally restricted to Southern Chinese cuisine traditions such as Cantonese and
Sichuan cuisine. Bullfrogs and
Pig frog are farmed on a large scale in some areas of China, such as
Sichuan.
In Chinese cuisine, frog legs are usually stir-fried and mixed with light spices, stewed, frying, or made into congee.
File:Herbal frog leg soup, Zi Yean Restaurant, Singapore - 20090714.jpg|Chinese-style Singaporean herbal frog leg soup served at the Zi Yean Restaurant
File:Yanwo Town - frog farm - P1540348.JPG|Frogs being raised for food in a small plastic enclosure in a pond in Yanwo Town, Honghu City, Hubei, China
Indonesia
In Indonesian cuisine, frog-leg soup is known as
swikee or swike, most probably brought by the
Chinese diaspora and popular in Chinese Indonesian cuisine.
Swikee is mainly frog-leg soup with a strong taste of garlic, gingers, and fermented soya beans (
tauco), accompanied by celery or parsley leaves. Swikee is a typical dish from Purwodadi, Grobogan in
Central Java province. Frog legs are also fried in margarine and sweet soy sauce or tomato sauce, battered and deep fried, or grilled. Frog eggs are also served in banana leaves (
pepes telur kodok). The dried and crispy fried frog skin is also consumed as
krupuk crackers; the taste is similar to fried fish skin.
Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of frog meat, exporting more than 5,000 tonnes of frog meat each year, mostly to France, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
Italy
Frogs are a common food in the northern part of
Italy, especially throughout
Piemonte and
Lombardy and within these two regions especially in the Vercelli area in Piemonte and in the Pavia and Lomellina areas in Lombardy. In these places, frogs are part of the ancient culinary tradition and a typical
staple food. The consumption of frogs is mainly related to the availability of animals due to the rural activities and typical agriculture in these places.
The large presence of frogs is mainly due to the agriculture typical of these areas which have always been known for their rice. The large cultivation of rice means that there is a large presence of artificial water channels used to flood rice fields during the growing season, which makes a perfect habitat for frogs. During the growth period when fields stay flooded, and even more during the draining of the fields, farmers and others often gather to go frog hunting armed with nets. Some towns even organize collective hunting sessions and games.
Frogs have gained much culinary relevance in these areas, with many rural towns hosting food festivals called sagre – centered on frogs – where frogs are prepared in various ways. They typically take place during the rice-harvesting periods. With frog consumption closely connected to rice production and being the native land of the Italian dish risotto, one of the most common dishes is frog risotto, risotto alle rane. Other local frog dishes include them being dipped in egg batter, breadcrumbed and then fried, or in soups and stews.
Slovenia
Frog legs (žabji kraki) are a popular dish in Slovenian cuisine, especially in areas of eastern Slovenia (
Prekmurje and north-eastern
Slovenian Styria). They are also quite popular in the country's capital,
Ljubljana, and have been considered the "basis of the traditional city cuisine of Ljubljana".
Up to modern times, they have been traditionally considered
Lenten food and were especially popular in spring.
They are also a popular traditional dish in the
Vipava Valley in western Slovenia and are served in numerous restaurants in the Slovenian Littoral.
Croatia
Frog legs are popular in some parts of
Croatia, especially in the
Gorski Kotar region in the northwest of the country. They are considered a specialty in the Lokve municipality, where they are served cooked, fried, or in a stew, sometimes with
polenta on the side.
Spain
In the western part of Spain,
Extremadura and Castilla y Leon, frog legs are served deep-fried. They are a delicacy among its citizens. Frog legs also have great culinary value on the sides of the
Ebro.
Albania
In Albania, frog legs are regarded as a delicacy. Frogs are mostly collected from the wild.
[Albania: The Bradt Travel Guide, p. 43, by Gillian Gloyer, 2004]
Greece
In Greece, frog legs are particularly associated with the city of
Ioannina and its adjacent lake
Pamvotis.
Mexico
The capture of frog legs is usually carried out in states such as
Baja California, Chihuahua,
Jalisco,
Sonora,
Tamaulipas,
Veracruz,
Zacatecas, and much of the
Mexican Plateau of Mexico. It occurs almost year-round and the haunches are consumed fried, in soups, broths, or stews such as haunches in
green sauce.
Romania
In Romania, edible frogs are known as pui de baltă (). The legs are eaten breaded and fried.
Ukraine
Fried frog legs are a specialty of the small city of
Vylkove in
Odesa Oblast, Ukraine,
but they have also gained popularity in
Odesa.
United States
Frog legs are eaten in parts of the Southern United States, particularly in the
Deep South and Gulf states where French influence is more prominent, including
South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida,
Alabama,
Mississippi, and
Louisiana. The legs are almost always served battered and fried. The Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival in Florida celebrates the dish every January.
[Crystal Vander Weit. "In case you missed it: Visuals from Fellsmere's Frog Leg Festival 2024." Treasure Coast Newspapers. 23 January 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.] They are also eaten in Eastern states, but not as commonly. Frog legs are a popular dish in Cleveland, Ohio, especially in its Little Italy and Asiatown neighborhoods. The most common kinds of frogs eaten are bullfrogs and
, as these are abundant in most of the country, including the South. Although the consumption of wild native frogs is generally discouraged, the harvest and cooking of invasive bullfrogs, especially in the Western US, has been encouraged as a form of control and to promote local cuisine.
Some methods of cooking include egg-/cracker-crumb breading or battered. They are either fried or grilled. Deep-fried frog legs can also be found at fairs.
Raccoons, Virginia opossum, partridges, prairie hen, and frogs were among the fare Mark Twain recorded as part of American cuisine.
Caribbean
Mountain chickens (
Leptodactylus fallax) are frogs named for their habitat and flavor which are eaten in
Montserrat and
Dominica. The frogs are now critically endangered.
United Kingdom
In 2013, archaeologists digging at
Blick Mead,
Wiltshire found the remains of a cooked frog leg which was served as part of a feast in BC during the
Mesolithic era.
However, in the modern era frog legs are widely regarded as "repellent" in Britain.
"Frog" has been used as an anti-French slur in the English-speaking world since the late 18th century.
During the late 19th century, French restaurateur Auguste Escoffier tried to rename them "
" in a vain attempt to sell them to London diners.
In recent decades, several British celebrity chefs have introduced frog leg dishes to their menus, notably Heston Blumenthal, whose recipes have included frog
blancmange.
Australia, New Zealand and Canada
In
Australia and
New Zealand, frogs are more exotic, usually eaten at Asian or French restaurants and mainly the hind legs are the priority. In Canada, they are a little more common, mainly in eastern and northeastern
Canada.
Issues
Trade
Each year about US$40 million worth of frog legs are traded internationally, with most countries in the world participating in this trade.
The world's top importers of frog legs are France, Belgium, and the United States, while the biggest international exporters are Indonesia and China.
While these figures do not account for domestic consumption, when production from frog farms is taken into account, it is conservatively estimated that humans consume up to 3.2 billion frogs for food around the world every year.
Health
Movement of live or unfrozen, unskinned amphibians is a potential way for deadly amphibian diseases such as
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and
Ranavirus to be transported around the world, and despite recommendations on preventing disease spread from the World Organisation for Animal Health, which regulates the international spread of epizootic diseases,
few countries have adopted these recommendations as law.
In Canada, the sale of fresh or frozen frog legs is illegal unless they are determined free from bacteria of the genus Salmonella, as per the official method MFO-10, Microbial Examination of Froglegs.
Environment and animal welfare
Many environmentalists urge the restriction of frog consumption—especially those harvested from the wild—because amphibian populations are declining and frogs are an essential element of ecosystems. Conservationists warn that gastronomic demand for frogs is seriously depleting regional populations.
Frogs are sensitive to environmental changes,
disease, habitat degradation, and
pollution.
As most of the frog production comes from wild harvesting rather than frog farms, over-exploitation in the frog exporting countries like Indonesia, Turkey and Albania caused a rapid decrease in frog population, even endengaring some species. Also, as a direct cause of this intense harvesting the increase in the usage of pesticides have been observed.
The exception to this is where the American bullfrog is not native and has been introduced. In these ecosystems, American bullfrogs can decimate local amphibian populations, upset ecosystem balance, and have negative impacts on other species of wildlife as well.
A 2011 paper raised animal welfare concerns over methods such as live removal of legs and methods of hunting, recommending that countries of origin "establish humane standards to govern the capture, handling, packaging and export of live frogs and for the Hunting, animal welfare, animal slaughter, and processing of frogs used for food to animal rights".
Religious
According to Jewish dietary laws, all
and
are considered unclean animals. Therefore, frog legs are not
kosher, and are forbidden to observant Jews in
Orthodox Judaism. However, more liberal streams of Judaism such as
Reform Judaism do not prohibit the eating of non-kosher animals. Traditional Judaism also includes universal laws that define which activities are considered sinful even for non-Jews according to Jewish law, known as the
Noahide laws. Under this rubric, there is a prohibition against eating limbs taken from live animals, known as eiver min hachai; thus, Jewish law would consider it to be sinful for any person to eat frogs legs that were removed from live frogs. This is also considered to be under the prohibition of cruelty to animals, which liberal Jewish streams accept as forbidden just as traditional Judaism considers to be forbidden.
Frog meat is considered as haraam (non- halal) according to some Islamic dietary laws. Those who consider it haraam cite the hadith that prohibits the killing of frogs, together with ants, bees, and seabirds. This haraam status has caused controversy in Demak, Indonesia, where the authorities urged the (frog leg soup) restaurant owners not to associate swikee with Demak town, since it would tarnish Demak's image as the first Islamic city/town in Java, and also opposed by its inhabitants that mainly follow the Shafi'i school, which forbids the consumption of frogs.
In medieval and early modern Europe, frogs were not classified as meat and could therefore be eaten during the Christian fast of Lent, along with fish and bird flesh. in Lorraine were recorded as eating frogs during Lent in the 13th century.
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