Whelk is a large marine snail — a single-shelled sea gastropod — whose chunky, pointed spiral shell holds a coil of firm, ivory meat. Pulled from the shell and boiled, it eats chewy and resilient with a clean, briny-sweet flavour and a faint mineral edge of the sea. A humble shore food turned street snack and bistro plate, it is sold winkle-style from London seafood stalls, simmered in chilli and served cold as Korea's golbaengi, and poached in court-bouillon as the French bulot. The common or waved whelk, Buccinum undatum, is the species most of the North Atlantic means by the word.