La Palette brings back the horsemeat
La Palette’s horsemeat hiatus didn’t last long—viande chevaline will return to the menu at the Queen Street bistro as of this week. Co-owner Shamez Amlani stopped serving the French delicacy late last summer after the Toronto Star exposed questionable sourcing in the horsemeat industry, but he didn’t let the matter drop. “We’ve spent the past six months doing as much research as we can,” he told Post City. “We’re very certain that we’ll be serving our customers high-quality meat.” So what makes him think the meat is now safe? One reason could be that President Obama recently lifted the American ban on horse slaughter, meaning American workhorses would no longer be mixed into the Canadian food supply. We have a hunch this isn’t the end of the story, though—horsemeat, like shark fin and raw milk, always seems to stir up controversy. Read the entire story [Post City] »
No thank-you. I would never eat the meat of a horse. I hope this delicacy is banned soon. Sure you can call it “high quality” but it is still inhumane. 99% of meat made in North America is pumped with antibiotics and hormones.
Thank goodness for people like Shamez. Willing to buck trends and perhaps displease people in the name of serving high-quality, classic food.
if you don’t like horse don’t eat it, but for those of us who enjoy it, thanks Shamez for making sure it’s safe.
Thank goodness for Shamez? Give me a break. He wants to make money from the serving of dead animals? Yeah, he’s real hero. Yep, horse is real high quality and classic food. Get over yourself. I’ll never set foot in La Palette again. I guess humans just have the right to take life from and consume any peaceful and innocent animal they choose. So sad. There is plenty of real food to eat on earth that doesn’t involve taking a life to do it.
Shay, your problem seems to be more directed against eating meat generally, and the idea of eating horsemeat makes you cringe even more than beef or chicken or the other more socially accepted meats.
I fully agree with taryn. If your going to serve it, make sure its high quality. End of story. Wild, wild horses… couldn’t drag me away (from La Palette)
The problem with horse meat is that horses are not raised to be eaten. Cows, chickens, pigs, are all raised for human consumption. As a result, if you eat a horse, you are also eating a variety of drugs that would not be used for human food. Are Cows and chickens given drugs? Yes, and we are being drugged through them, but horses are alot worse. I definitely would not call horse meat high quality.
If you’re fine with eating any other kind of meat, you should have no problem eating horse. Just because they are portrayed as a “more noble” animal doesn’t give them exempt status. Pigs are just as intelligent as horses, so if you’ve got a problem with horse meat, you have a problem with meat in general and just don’t realize it.
The largest problem is disassociation. We see a chicken breast or bacon in the store, and separate it from the source of the meal. In my mind, that’s the worst kind of meat eater, as it shows a lack of respect for both animal and product. That’s why so many people have problem with offal cuts of meat – it reminds them that they’re eating animal flesh, because “beef tongue” paints a more vivid picture than “chicken breast” in our minds.
As for horse meat containing a cocktail of drugs, I can honestly say I don’t know the answer to that, but would be interested to find out if the argument holds any merit.
Wow, do people even realize what their stance is before typing in rage?
This is not about meat vs vegan, if you’re going to debate the merits of horse meat, focus on horses.
Horses are raised for meat just like chickens, ducks, pigs, cows, deers, etc……..If you can seriously tell me what the difference is in a calm, logical manner I would gladly listen. If horses are deemed as noble/majestic creatures because of stories you’ve read as a child, you’ve been conditioned.
Anthropomorphism, look into it.
Holy Horses, I think people are complaining to complain. The vegetarians who eat tofu resembling meat products is much more disgusting then horse meat. Horse meat is Meat. Go fight the Costa Ricans for eating Iguana’s The delicacy there. Wait, go to France, Italy tell them Horse is not meat but the most beautiful of gracious animals.
Its an animal, we eat animals shit we drink their milk, eat their eggs, produce by products from them, Just do what we as humans can do make the decision of not going their, eat somewhere else like Fresh all those lovely vegetables grown in the shit from all those animals. What a vicious cycle….
Only barbarians eat horses in our Western culture. May everyone participating in this “delicacy” be exposed to the chemicals that are part and parcel of horsemeat. Just watch you don’t choke on them.
For the people who are so concern about eating horse meat… you shouldn’t say anything unless you are a vegan… There’s a way to raised them in ethical way for their meat. So good for La Palette’s owners, he found a way to make profit and still being ethical.
Horse meat for consumption is raised differently, just like chicken, porc and beef. We are not talking about horses used for racing at the Woodbine race track or your little pony at the ranch. Beef are actually more intelligent than horse, but I don’t see people making such a big deal about eating beef.
If travel more often, they will see that horse meat is serve widely in European countries. Do you dare to say that they are not part of the Western culture?
I started eating at La Palette after they stopped serving horse meat. I really enjoy the restaurant, especially the food and atmosphere.
Unfortunately I won’t go back unless they stop serving it again.
Anyone who thinks horses raised for meat in North America are specifically raised for food like cattle, pigs or chickens is wrong. These are the same horses at Woodbine.
Have a look at the below link if you want to see how bad it can be.
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s-paddock/kelsey-lefever-every-one-of-them-is-dead/
WASPs trying to ruin the day with their holier than though attitude to horse meat. And don’t get me started on their attitudes towards veal.
Scandinavians, Central Asians etc have been eating horse meat for centuries.
Don’t forget too chew when swallowing your Big Mac, you ignorant Anglo-Saxon inbredes.
From the Post City article:
“Horses aren’t generally raised for human consumption, and Canada’s differing inspection standards, which weren’t equipped to deal with the influx of American stock, led to fears that consumers were being exposed to phenylbutazone (PBZ), an anti-inflammatory drug used in horses but banned for human use.”
Every racehorse at every racetrack in North America has received Bute at one point in their lives. It’s the Equine version of Tylenol/Advil.
Like the last time this was mentioned all I read is Whaa…Whaaa….Whaaaaaa….
Tomorrow I am flying to Asia to stop and Ban Balut, Those poor little Ducks, Funny they sell that all over the city but no one says anything.
Just don’t eat it if you feel some injustice was incurred, insulting other individuals because you are sitting behind a keyboard and a screen simply shows you really don’t care about the issue and are just looking to vent. Sorry this was your outlet.
Personally I just can not wait for the viande chevaline benny. Sunday morning special.
Good on Sham for fighting the good fight and not allowing restrictions the consumption of game or farmed meats. Variety is the spice of life
Think I might trot over there now.
Having been to numerous horse auctions and even a horse feetlot and seen what is being loaded onto the trailer to head to the slaughterhouse, there is no distinction made between a horse that came from the acreage down the road, the exracehorse that lost his last race or the unhandled horse raised for meat. The EID system that has been introduced is a joke, anyone can say anything on it and no one checks to even make sure the form is for any particular horse. So when you eat horse, no – you don’t know what you are getting.
disgusting.. and so is the so called fine dining establishment that will be serving this horrific dish…hope all that eat it get sick…
Horses helped build our country,they carried man on his back and fought in war,they are used for therapy for disabled,handicapped persons, as well there are mini horses trained to be seeing eye horses. I have several horses and they are my world, they keep me going. I will never step foot in any restaurant that serves horse meat. Horses are not livestock.
HORSES ARE NOT BRED & RAISED for human consumption whereas most livestock are. The slaughterhouses are designed specifically for those particular livestock. Horses that end go to slaughter are not humanely treated. The terror/mistreatment and agony of a much slower death than the other livestock meant to be there, are not taken into consideration. Horses are not fed a ton of steroids and other crap to fatten them up for dinner tables. Obama seriously needs a good slap in the head. The horses that are being bought & shipped to slaughter to end up on your dinner tables are NOT safe for human consumption. Get with the program! No, I’m not a vegan.
The article gets some facts confused — what Obama signed is an appropriations bill that, for the first time in several years, did NOT prohibit US Dept of Agriculture inspection of horsemeat. There never was a ban on horse slaughter in the US per se. But, without inspectors, the meat could not legally be sold. So the abattoirs just set up shop across the borders — same companies, same shippers, same trucks, same sources of horses now as when the US plants were running.
Even when the plants were open in the US and selling the meat was legal, there wasn’t really a market here — the US doesn’t eat horsemeat. So, there is no reason to think that American horses will be removed from the Canadian slaughter pipeline, or at least not because we will be eating them here. I would recommend you stop eating this toxin-laden meat anyway, for your own sake. US horses are not raised for food: they are treated with all kinds of prohibited substances, and then their papers are falsified to make it appear otherwise.
US horses do not have passports like European horses (unless they are top FEI competitors who go to events over there) that identify them as safe or unsafe to be in the food supply. That’s a big loophole.
Also, not sure what was meant by the reference to “American workhorses.” I’d say relatively few of the horses butchered in Canada are what we’d call work horses — the most numerous are saddle horses, with the majority of those being Quarter Horses. Thoroughbreds are also sent to slaughter, as another post noted.
And this leads me to my final point: most of the horses butchered were trained to be useful to humans, to learn certain skills and to perform them when asked. Many of them had trusting relationships with humans — some of the horses butchered are obtained under false pretenses (as another commenter noted), and some are even stolen. They are not old or sick or dangerous, as some think — by the USDA’s own statistics, more than 90% are young, healthy, potentially useful animals.
Why would you want to eat the meat of an animal that could easily have been someone’s pet or valued companion? You can’t say that about cows or pigs or sheep in the majority — we don’t ride them or train them to do much other than go docilely to slaughter. Eat those animals instead. It will be healthier for you.
Were eating Horses, Not Unicorns.
I was once given a Cow by my Grand Mother in the Dominican, We ate it, it was delicious. Me and my uncle raised a nice Little cow in Dominican for my last trip so we could have Veal, took care of that little guy it was delish.
Before this article how many of you were advocates of banning horse meat and the consumption of? Probably none. In a weeks time you will forget and trot along(see what I did there)
I think it’s completely normal for people to be skeptical regarding the consumption of horse meat. The sourcing, confinement, slaughter and therefore quality of the meat has been questionable in North American for a long, long time (proven by the prior ban on horse meat in the US)
If a restaurant can prove that the animals are properly raised, fed, and slaughtered than this issue is really no different than any other animal rights/clean food issue.
It’s true that horses are beautiful and intelligent (like most animals), and could serve a far better purpose in life than to wind up as eggs benedict for a self-righteous and overfed Torontonian. However, since the world is made up of all types, the best defense we have against farm animal mistreatment is to demand higher standards for raising and slaughter. It seems like Sham is at least trying to do his homework.
I’d rather a horse be raised for slaughter than, essentially, slavery.
Horses raced for racing or for “work” are doing so involuntarily. There’s nothing noble about keeping them for sport, pets or labour. Better to put them out of their misery and get some nutrition out of it.
DDAAMMMNNN Skippy(See what I did there)^^
giddy up!
All commercial animals for the table have been raised with ‘chemicals’ and antibiotics.
The government regulations call for a clearance period for each of these prior to slaughter.
If u don’t like it, don’t eat it.
How about a horse not raised for slaughter or slavery. Anyone who would eat horse is an ass. Karma.
believe it or not I’ve eaten Horse meat and it’s just like beef. um I totally understand how some people may feel about this subject but non the less I love horses not to eat them but if there was a horse stake house I’d be there that’s for sure. I see them just like cows just a tad prettier
Just because something tastes good doesn’t mean you have the right to eat it. Let’s hope in your next life you will have more compassion and be kinder to other living beings. Maybe you’ll be a horse!