Helix pomatia, common names the Burgundy snail, Roman snail, edible snail or escargot, is a species of large, edible, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helicidae. It is an European species. In the English language it is called by the French name escargot when used in cooking (escargot literally means 'snail'). Although this species is highly prized as a food it is difficult to cultivate and rarely farmed commercially.