Word: french
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Brigitte Bardot Foundation's offensive against the horsemeat industry isn't limited to tugging at heartstrings. The group has also enlisted conservative parliamentarian - and foundation board member - Lionel Luca to prepare legislation designed to alter the status of the French steed in a manner that would prohibit its sale as dinner. The draft of Luca's bill calls for horses to be reclassified in French law from animal de rente (or animal used to generate income) to animal de compagnie (domesticated animal). If introduced and passed, backers say, horses would then be covered under the European Convention for the Protection...
...course, to American and British ears (not to mention taste buds), forcing the French off their horse habit sounds about as reasonable an idea as getting them to stop scarfing snails. (And that's without even factoring in the emotional aversion to seeing a loin of Trigger or fillet of Black Beauty served with pepper sauce.) But opponents of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation effort say there's more than just culinary discernment behind their desire to keep alive a tradition that some historians trace back to the early 1800s, when Napoleon fed his famished soldiers horses slain during the Battle...
...French livestock associations - including those representing horse breeders and riders - note that over 95% of all horses in France are bred first and foremost for their ultimate marketing as meat. In 2008 alone, nearly 16,000 horses were slaughtered for that purpose in France - providing an income that riding centers, racing stables and other horse-related interests rely on to remain profitable. Horsemeat is also the main source of revenue for just over 1,000 horse-butcher shops in France, which were traditionally the only places in France to sell the meat, though in recent years, some ordinary butchers...
...however, the dispute may be for naught, as the French seem to be drifting away from eating horsemeat of their own volition. Consumption of horsemeat in France has fallen steadily over the past two decades and by a whopping 12% since 2007. The 20,000 tons of viande chevaline eaten in 2008 represents less than 1% of all meat consumed in the country. That's half of what horse-hungry nations like Italy and Argentina eat, and just one-tenth of China's annual intake...
...With French restaurants dropping horsemeat in droves, these booming markets abroad are already becoming a growing source of income for French horse breeders. So no matter what happens with Luca's proposed legislation, French horsemeat will continue to find its way to the dinner table somewhere in the world - a fact that undoubtedly rankles those who see the animals in terms of the lovable Monsieur Ed rather than tasty tartare...