Hungry for horse meat

By Michael Johnson

International Herald Tribune

BORDEAUX, France: 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse," I thought to
myself as I sat down to dinner the other night. If I hadn't picked out
the steak myself I would have assumed it was a cut of beef. But in fact
a horse somewhere, probably in East Europe, had to die for this meal.

Having never eaten horse meat, I needed all my willpower to swallow the
sizzling flesh. The smell and taste were decidedly different, a bit
sweet, but it went down and it stayed down. To tell you the truth, I
didn't like it at all. Maybe it's an acquired taste; I might try it
again some day.

If I do, I won't be alone. Horse meat is once again a big thing in
France, increasingly considered an alternative to expensive beef as food
costs rise and people look for cheaper substitutes.

To be sure, the French patronized their boucheries chevelalines (horse
meat butcher shops) throughout the 19th century, when horses were
ubiquitous in the streets. (About 62,000 were slaughtered for food in
1911, a record that still stands.)

With the increase in motorized transportation after World War I, the
horse population dwindled, and so did consumption. But today, horse meat
sales in France are running about 6 percent ahead of last year, and the
past three years have shown steady growth.

I decided to give it a try at that recent dinner after noticing a buzz
at the horse meat stand at the Sunday outdoor market here. Matrons were
snapping up filet mignon, beautifully strung roasts, entrecotes,
horseburger patties and even liver at prices up to 35 percent less than
equivalent cuts of beef. I joined in.

In other European and Asian countries - including Japan, China, Belgium,
Germany and Switzerland - horse meat is a dietary staple. Breeders in
East Europe are finding a ready export market for all these
destinations. In Siberia, the Yakut horse, bred mainly for its fatty
flesh and its high caloric content, is an important part of the local
diet.

"The Italians have recently become the biggest consumers in Europe,"
says the national vice president of the French Fédération de la
Boucherie Hippophagique (horse meat butchers). Even classic Italian
Mortadella sausage can be had in a horse meat variety.

I met the vice president, Eric Vigoureux, behind his refrigerated
trailer at the market. His job, besides selling the meat, is to overcome
the remaining taboos against human consumption. Monsieur Vigoureux was
cheerful and eager to communicate his message - horse meat is lower in
fat, higher in protein and cheaper than beef, and the French are queuing
up for it, he said. "It used to be red meat for the poor, but it has
become democratized since the acceptance of exotic meats - ostrich,
bison, that kind of thing. The main drivers are economic."

The contrasts between French and U.S. culture are endless but I can't
think of an instance quite as stark as attitudes toward horse meat. The
French consumed 25,380 metric tons in 2006 versus the official U.S.
figure of zero. Just last year the final three U.S. horse abattoirs were
closed in Texas and Illinois under pressure from animal rights groups.
They had been exporting to Europe.

The mythic image of the noble horse in American history has weighed most
heavily in the anti-horse meat campaign in the United States.
Celebrities like the singer Willie Nelson have campaigned to stop the
slaughter of horses - in the 1990s, about 100,000 a year were killed,
processed and shipped to Europe.

Vigoureux defends modern European slaughterhouse practices, pointing out
that horses are rendered unconscious by electroshock, then dispatched by
controlled bleeding. "The animal feels no fear, no suffering," he said.

Some people can't tell the difference between horse and beef. I once
overheard an American couple complain in a Paris restaurant that they
could not find a decent hamburger in the French capital. When a waiter
came by to take their order, he pointed to the "Steak haché (chevaline)"
listed on the menu. He did not mention that "chevaline" means horse
meat. They ordered it.

Ten minutes later they were all happily munching their horse burgers. If
they had known the truth, they would probably have run screaming into
the street.

Michael Johnson is a journalist based in Bordeaux.