In light of Toronto Star article, La Palette puts a moratorium on selling horsemeat
By Jon Sufrin
La Palette isn't horsing around (Image: Jon Sufrin)
Last month, Rosedale’s Terroni Bar Centrale pulled horsemeat from its menu. The move — prompted solely by poor sales, apparently — wasn’t a complete surprise, since selling horsemeat is extra risqué for a chain restaurant. But what does it mean when, after over a decade, La Palette stops serving horsemeat, as it did over the weekend?
When La Palette opened its doors in 2000, it may have been the first place in Toronto to sell horsemeat. As far as co-owner Shamez Amlani knows, it could have been the first Canadian restaurant outside of Quebec to serve horse. And it did so enthusiastically.
“I want to be clear that we have no moral qualms about the eating and serving of horsemeat,” Amlani tells us.
And why should they, when they have no moral qualms about serving venison, duck or other animals? To be a non-vegetarian and protest the consumption of horsemeat is to partake in “speciesism,” Amlani says.
It’s no coincidence that La Palette put a moratorium on selling horsemeat on the same day that The Toronto Star published an in-depth investigation into horse consumption in Canada. That article points out several gruesome details about the horsemeat industry.
Most disturbing, for Amlani, is the fact that unwanted horses from the U.S. — where consumption of horsemeat has been banned since 2007 — are apparently making their way to Canada, including the Richelieu meat plant in Quebec, La Palette’s former horsemeat supplier.
Amlani was under the impression that Richelieu used only horses raised specifically for human consumption; that they were raised ethically and with adherence to health regulations. The problem with U.S. horses, experts say, is that they weren’t raised with human consumption in mind — they’re potentially contaminated with drugs like phenylbutazone (PBZ), an anti-inflammatory.
“It’s a health regulation violation,” a professor of neurology told The Star. “We’re sending contaminated horse meat to the people eating it.”
After reading The Star’s article, Amlani called Richelieu to do some first-hand research. He wasn’t confident with the responses he got — didn’t feel like they could guarantee properly-treated and uncontaminated product — so the moratorium went up. As soon as La Palette can source traceable, top-quality horsemeat, though, it’ll be back on the menu.
“We’re trying to protect our customers,” Amlani says. “We’re not capitulating to horsemeat naysayers.”
Still, the move is symbolically important. We’re curious to see whether other restaurants around the city will start bucking the trend.
In the meantime, La Palette is replacing its horsemeat dishes with venison.
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Reader Comments:
I'm sorry but there is NO such thing as "top quality traceable horse meat", the owner even looked into it himself..none are raised strictly for human consumption..corners are cut in this unregulated industry! No one is going to raise horses and send them to these horror houses without some type of medication that is deadly to humans being in their systems. I don't see how the owner of this restaurant is going to find horses that have been raised strictly for human consumption. There is NO such thing. We slaughter American and Canadian horses in this country FULL of drugs. No slaughter facility in this country can GUARANTEE the safety of the horse meat they process. So why even take a chance to contaminate the world that consumes it?? Just stop serving it period, it's inhumane and unregulated and that should be good enough reason to never serve it again!
The horsemeat "naysayers" have been saying all along - "horsemeat contains metabolites of banned substances." Were the owners and Chef at La Palette not paying attention when there was a protest at their restaurant last year?
Chef Kavanaugh has publicly and famously promoted his horsemeat from Richelieu as "harvested from animals raised exclusively for meat." It would seem that they are their own worst enemy - parroting the doctrine of Richelieu and promoting the meat as "naturally fed" and sourced exclusively from horses raised only for meat. I guess that's why the CBC vid and other undercover documentaries show clearly the condition of horses at Richelieu and the fact they they, despite being "100% food animals" are often wearing shoes.
MMM, yummy! La Palette is the only reason to visit Canada, horse meat is sweeter and healthier than beef, less rangey than Elk or Deer and less of a hassle than Bison. I am sorry to hear that it is no longer available, I hope they find a new supplier.
Eating horsemeat is more of a tradition than a better “palate" thing. The story behind the custom of eating horse meat comes from Napoleon's retreat from Russia. Middle of winter, the troops were in such bad shape that they began eating their dead horses to survive.
Speciesism? We don't eat our companions does the owner of the restaurant eat dogs and cats too? Humans are animals too, dies he desire to be like the cook, the thief, his wife and her lover? What separates the species? Cows, pigs, etc are raised as food... Horses are not. So napoleon's soldiers ate their horses when they were starving? This is 2012 and the people eating in this restaurant are not starving.
Horses are terrible feed production animals- not financially viable to t
Raise them exclusively for meat. Rest assured O Canada, you are ingesting a former riding race performance horse or childs pet pony- all chock full of Bute, fly spray, wormers, DMSO, you name it. Enjoy!