Disclaimer: This text has a cultural-historical focus and is in no way intended to glorify meat consumption. It only serves to highlight the history and controversy surrounding the consumption of horsemeat in Europe. We respect each individual’s choices and beliefs about his or her individual diet and support an open and respectful discussion about different diets.
Horse steak: delicacy or obscenity?
It is hard to imagine the menu of traditional Luxembourgish restaurants without the “Päerdsbiftek” or “horse steak”. The dish is also not rare in Portuguese, French and Italian restaurants.
This usually leaves our neighbours to the east of the Moselle in shock when they discover this delicacy in our local restaurants. In Germany, eating horsemeat is at best an obscurity, at worst an obscenity, depending on the region. You hardly ever find it in restaurants, and it is rare in supermarkets. However, there are a few traditional horse butcher shops, especially in Rhineland, where the product is sold as a rare delicacy. In general, however, the topic of horsemeat tends to evoke disapproval in Germany.
The Germans are no exception in Europe. In Great Britain, horse meat is considered absolutely taboo, and in Greece, the slaughter of horses is even forbidden by law.
So why is this topic so divisive?
The papal ban on horsemeat
The aversion to eating horses is – relatively speaking – a fairly recent phenomenon in our history. In the hunter-gatherer societies of prehistory, wild horses were hunted because they served as an important source of protein.
When people began to domesticate horses between 4000 and 2000 BC, their relationship with the animal changed. Horses became livestock, which is why their consumption greatly decreased but did not disappear altogether.
The earliest controversy on the subject is found in 732 A.D. At that time, Pope Gregory III issued an official ban on horse meat. The exact motive is not precisely documented, but two causes can be named that most likely fuelled this decree.
Firstly, it is proven that ritual horse slaughter was carried out among many Germanic peoples. In the course of the Christianisation of Germania, the ban was probably used to suppress the pagan faith. The other reason was the threat of the Arabs from the East, against whom the military use of horses was too indispensable to use them in large numbers for food.
This prohibition is special in the history of Christianity because, unlike other religions, there were usually no religiously imposed food prohibitions in it.
Revolution and diffusion
In most European countries, the slaughter of horses remained prohibited by law until the 18th century. Horses were considered too important as a source of work and breeding to be used as a food supply.
The big turning point was the French Revolution. Horses, which belonged to the aristocracy as a sign of prestige, were slaughtered to feed the hungry masses. During the Napoleonic conquests, French troops were encouraged to eat their horses if necessary during the campaign. Doing so was a not unimportant prerequisite for the success of the French military. In this way, the practice then also came to Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the Rhineland.
In the German regions that were not part of the Confederation of the Rhine, eating horse meat was considered “French barbarism”. The same was true in Great Britain, where people were very hostile to the revolutionary regime and the consumption of horse meat remains very much taboo to this day.
A bland aftertaste?
While horsemeat became part of the national cuisine in countries such as France, Italy or even here in Luxembourg, in Germany (with the exception of a few regions) the horse remained mainly a domestic and farm animal.
However, in times of extreme inflation, especially during and after the two world wars, the German population often had no choice but to slaughter old and sick farm animals – especially horses.
Horsemeat became the food of the poor, and from then on it was reputed to be of poor quality.
In Germany, the consumption of horse meat is closely associated with images of poverty and misery, which is why it still evokes bad associations for many people today.
This is probably the main reason why it may irritate our German friends slightly when they hear that in Luxembourg horse steak is one of the traditional delicacies.
However, many people today also have concerns because, like dogs and cats, they see horses as pets that have a special bond with humans.
An insight into our shared cultural history
Of course, it is up to each and everyone to decide what they want to eat and what they don’t want to eat. For those who would like to give it a try be informed that horse meat has a high protein and a very low-fat content, yet remains very tender and tasty. It’s worth mentioning that horses, unlike cows and pigs, do not come from factory farming and usually come from regional slaughterhouses in the country.
In times when more and more people are rightly abstaining from eating meat altogether, the controversy surrounding horse meat may no longer play such a major role. Nevertheless, the history of this culinary practice offers us a fascinating insight into our shared cultural history and individual customs.