Horse meat a pricey treat in some parts
toronto — Horse meat found lurking in beef products in Europe has some meat eaters worried about what’s on their dinner plate, but not Filomena Lorusso — she knows it’s all horse, of course.
Lorusso, the owner of Toronto deli Cavallino Carne Equina and Groceries, feels so strongly about horse meat, it’s not just the only type of meat she sells, it’s the only kind of meat she eats. “We do not serve beef, I do not eat beef,” she says. “I eat only horse meat.”
Lorusso’s customers are mainly of French, Italian and Russian backgrounds, she says, but she has seen all types of people purchase horse meat.
“Any way you eat beef, we eat horse,” she says. “Sandwiches? Yes. Barbecue? Yes. Every way.”
Shamez Amlani, owner of La Palette on Queen Street in Toronto, says horse meat is not as popular here as it is in France, where he lived for several years, but it is delicious.
“It tastes like beef — a little sweeter, and more tender,” he says. “Don’t cook it beyond medium rare.”
La Palette serves horse tenderloin in two ways on their menu. Both options are $35, the most expensive entrees on the menu (along with the bouillabaisse) but Amlani says their horse meat is flavourful, lean, and definitely popular.
“We want to serve European food and so when I found a source in Quebec that had nice horse tenderloin, we jumped on it,” he says. “I’d say at least one in 10 diners end up trying it. In foodie culture, people love to try things they haven’t had before. Being at the top of the food chain and a meat eater, why deny yourself something healthy and tasty?”
Canada has become a major international horse meat supplier since a U.S. federal court ruling in 2007 closed the last horse-processing plant in that country.
In January 2011 — when it was reported that 100,000 live horses imported from the U.S. were slaughtered in Canada each year — the consumption of horse meat became a national issue of ethics. Although its sourcing is still an issue, the debate has shifted to issues of personal taste.
Horse meat is eaten in a number of countries, including France, Russia, Kazakhstan, China and Italy.