Horses into Gourmets

Sometimes horse flesh is so deftly cooked, so tastily disguised as to be chomped with gusto by U. S. tourists in Paris--chiefly at certain hotels with English or American names and a superfluity of catch-babbitt bathrooms.

One such hotel--on the famed Champs Elyses--serves a "New England Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner" from splendrous, steam-heated trundle-trays.

"C'est du cheval!" the French maitre d'hotel has confessed privately, "a bit of horseflesh for a people who will eat any meat providing it is 'corned.' . . . C'est leur propre fourrage! . . ."*

Such unrepentant imposture, although common enough, was not practised last week in Paris, when a banquet consisting chiefly of horse, donkey and mule meat was set before three members of the famed Sacred Union Cabinet of Prime Minister Raymond Poincar. The three, all by way of being gourmets, *were: Paul Painlev, mathematician, twice Prime Minister (1917; 1925); Minister of Agriculture Henri Queuille; and Minister of Commerce Maurice Bokanowski.

Spreading their napkins upon expectant laps, the Three Gourmets gazed with approval upon the following

Menu

Melon Longchamps Consomm de Cheval

la Croix

(HorseMeat Clear Soup) Pat de Foie Gras

d'Ane Truff (Truffled Donkey's Liver)

Saucisses et Langues de

Cheval avec Saucissons de Mulet

(Mixed Grill of Horse Sausages and Horse

Tongue with Mule Bologna)

Salade Chevaleresque

Creme d'Auteuil Glac

Tous les Fruits

As these choice morsels began to appear in noble plentitude, the eyes of the Statesmen-Gourmets were observed to glisten with anticipation. Minister of Agriculture Queuille commented favorably upon both the aroma and the taste of his consomm. Minister of Commerce Bokanowski forked rapidly both saucisses and saucissons. Meanwhile good M. Painlev had consumed a second and then a third portion of the truffled donkey's liver.

When toast time came, M. Painlev raised an approving, effervescent glass to his hosts: The National Horse Industry Association. Their chef had proved, he said, that even meats not generally esteemed could achieve a rare deliciousness. Minister of Commerce Bokanowski added the inspiring information as to how many pounds of horse, donkey and mule meat are annually consumed in France. Subsequent toasts to le cheval, Vane and le mulct were capped, of course, by the final and inevitable "A la Belle France!"

*"That's their proper fodder!" *The gourmand may be a mere glutton. The gourmet must possess an ecstatic discrimination among foods similar to the faculty of the dgustateur of wine.