The Saint Paul globe., 1898-08-07
FOOD FOR WAR TIMES.
How Hunger CompeIs Experiments
Upon Queer Meats.

From the New York Tribune
1t is only in times of siege and famine
that men discover how many different
kinds Of food there are besides those
usually consumed. Hunger drives them
to experiments upon substances which
they would shrink from eating on Or
olnary occasions, and they frequently
find that these uncommon foods, gen.
orally considered unfit for human be-
1ngS, are not only nouriShing, but
agreeable in flavor once the prejudice
against them has been broken and the
palate accustomed to the new taste
There have been at times in different
countries associations of persons who
made trials Of odd foods for the pur-
pose of ascertaining their fitness for
consumption, but they have never sue
ceeded in accomplishing their projected
reforms. Most people cling fondly to
their old ideas about what is good to
eat and what is not, and only the pros
pect of genuine famine can persuade
them to try ordinarily condemned
things.
When any town or district has been
besieged for such a length of time
that its food supply runs short, the
| first proceeding usually resorted to in
order to procure food for the inhabi-
tants is the killing of horses This
meat seems to be preferred to any
other of an unusual nature when the
everyday beef, mutton and pork be-
come unobtainab Bile.
The eating of horse flesh under such
circumstances is practice dating back
to very early times, instances of it be
ing mentioned among the Persians, the
Greeks and other nations of antiquity.
Later, it is recorded that, at the siege
of Antioch, In the first crusade, the
horses of the besiegers were eaten In
or,ft
more than 1000 of the original 10000
were left. At the siege of Metz 10000
horses are said to have been eaten.
But the famous siege of Paris in the
franco-Prussian war furnishes the
most interesting example of the va
rlety OF meats which may be used in
| great straits. During that terrible win
ter of 1S7O-71, while the German army
outside prevented supplies of any kind
from being brought into the unfortu-
| nate french capital, not only such fa-
| mlliar animals as horses. mules. dogs.
cats, rats and mice supplied the tables
OF rich and poor alike, but even the
mehagerle OF wild beasts in the Jardin
des Plantes disappeared gradually. and
neither doubt nor surprise was express
ed at its destruction. OF the horses
$4,000 were eaten during the siege. This
| meat, however, was not new to the
Partisan taste-at least, not to the
| taste Ci tne working classes. Since
| 1866 1t had been lawful to slaughter
horses for human food, and horse
butcher shops were common establish
ments in the city. But the entire num-
Der of horses killed in time of peace
was trifiing compared to this enor-
NOUS total in war time The Parisians.
with their irrepressible levity and dis
position to smooth matters over even
under such circumstances as these,
called the horse meat "siege venison. %
and there were few complaints regard
ing it,
According to the general Testimony,
| not only of the French at this time,
but of scientists in different countries
who have tried the meat under many
conditions, horsefiesh possesses a flavor
about halfway between that of beef
and game and is variously compared
to venison and to hare. 1t Is coarser
in grain than beef, and i'm this respect
resembles bull beef more than any
other. 1t has a peculiar smell, which
Is at first a trif1e disconcerting, but
which soon becomes familiar, and a
certain sweetness Of taste. It Is dark
er in color and more moist than beef.
It's fat, which Is moist and yellow Is
not generally mixed with the lean, and
1t soon melts and becomes rancid. One
authority says that horse meat, be-