It started as a joke, but for Andreas Gugumuck, a passionate Viennese farmer, snail breeding has become a very serious business, and he is proud to bring a tradition that was popular under the Habsburg Empire into the 21st century. On his small farm on the outskirts of Vienna, he now raises 300,000 gastropods a year, which are eaten in his restaurant nextdoor as part of an inventive menu. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES