I could eat a horse
If to be hungry enough to eat a horse means to be famished, Belgians must be starving.
An eating habit that is on its way out in the rest of Europe is still going strong in Belgium
Belgium is one of the few remaining horse-eating countries in the world. Between Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Italy and France, as well as Asian and South American countries, horse is consumed at the rate of 50 million a year.
In Flanders, the eating of paard, or horse, traces its roots to hard labour. A few hundred years ago, the town of Lokeren, East Flanders, used to be a small port city, which required the presence of many horses to haul and transport cargo. Famous for their strength, the Brabant horses would work until they were worn out, and then they would be slaughtered for food.
During this period, nothing could go to waste among European peasants and farmers. The tougher horse meat was made into the now-famous Lokeren horse sausage. A recipe evolved to make the sausage more palatable with a tomato sauce. Today, Lokeren horse sausages are registered with the EU for having historical and culinary significance. Based on the same traditional recipe, the horse meat is no longer from exhausted workhorses but comes from South America.
Luc Meert, a third generation butcher in Lokeren, has been making horse sausage his entire life, using his grandfather Emiels’ recipe. While continuing the family tradition, his shop, Bioslagerij Meert, is a reflection of how the consumption of meat is evolving. All of the products sold are made on site by Luc himself. While all their products are organic, horse is the only item that isn’t certified bio.
“There isn’t enough of a market to drive the horse meat industry to make bio products,” he explains. “However, the horses live outside, eating grass, running as close to wild as possible. Plus, I am safe in the knowledge that the horses are hormone free. Horses’ bodies can’t survive hormones.”
Horse meat is also free of tuberculosis and tapeworms so is safer to eat raw, which explains the popularity of horse steak tartare. Nutritionally, it is higher in iron and lower in fat than beef so is ideal for those with anaemia or who want less fat in their diets. Horse has a sweeter, leaner taste and a more striking appearance than beef, with a bloody, almost purple colour.
To try paardenfilet, or horse steak, in Flanders, Vilvoorde is the place to go. The town’s residents are casually known as pjeirefretters (horse eaters), as the town in Flemish Brabant has a long history of horse trading. This has resulted in a statue of the famous Brabant work horse as well as a handful of speciality horse restaurants. However, it is not uncommon to have it at home served with a side of fries and a nice homemade béarnaise sauce. Horse meat is easy to find at most butchers and supermarkets across Flanders. More expensive than beef (about €25-€30 a kilo), horse tends to be viewed as a culinary treat to have on occasion.
In addition to Vilvoorde’s restaurants and Lokeren’s sausages, there are a number of famous Flemish horse specialities. Antwerp has a dish called schep, a horse meat stew, very similar to stoverij, the Flemish beer-based beef stew. Ghent, meanwhile, has a deep-fried horse option, available at most of the frituur shops. The ample-sized paardenlookworst, or garlic horse sausage, has the same mild flavour as a hot dog but with a much denser consistency.
A nicer alternative is having horse in a belegde broodje. Smoked horse meat sold in many sandwich shops tastes very similar to bresaola, the Italian air-dried beef. Dark reddish brown in thin slices, the most significant taste is that of the smoke itself. Meert’s butcher shop not only smokes its own sandwich meat, it makes its own horse salami.
Also known as Boulogne-sausage after a French port city that also utilised horses like Lokeren, Belgian horse salami is easy to recognise for its traditional square shape. Both smoked horse and salami can be found in butchers and shops. Just look for the Dutch word paard.
But why would you want to? The ethics of eating horse
To an American, the idea of eating horse is so appalling that the US recently passed the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act to prevent its consumption by animals or humans, abroad or at home. Given the country’s romanticised cowboy history, this view is understandable.
The British are equally squeamish about consuming equine animals, despite chef Gordon Ramsey’s publicity stunt to promote the meat. Perhaps it the UK’s affection for not just horses, but the infamous women’s hats worn to the races.
There are a few reasons why many societies find it ethical to eat pig, chicken and cow but not horse. Many countries simply cannot disassociate the image of a horse from the meat. It might be different if there was a non-animal name for the meat, like “pork” for pig or “beef ” for cow. When you eat horse, it is simply horse, and the name brings to mind images of Mr Ed.
Some chalk up their aversion to the beauty factor, considering horses noble and beautiful, thus harder to kill and eat, but that same line of thinking would then rule out the consumption of venison, veal and the oh-so-adorable rabbit.
Then there is the idea that horses are quite smart. But again, pigs are also known for being highly intelligent; this doesn’t save their delicious hide. Others indicate the emotional connection to the animal – we ride them and groom them and love them, much like a dog or cat. Horses are also used as workers and in sport. These multiple roles in society elevate their usefulness outside of being a source of protein. This makes the act of eating them seem wrong.
It does seem a bit hypocritical to eat one animal and not another, based on human feelings. Belgium is doing its part to make horse eating more humane by recently passing a law that requires the clarification of a horse’s role: either a companion or not. Upon purchase, a horse has a chip embedded in it, so that once the horse’s role in humans’ lives is decided, the future for the animal cannot change.
