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| In Southern France, a Taste for Bull Meat | In Southern France, a Taste for Bull Meat |
| (about 13 hours later) | |
| ARLES, France — I was finishing the first course at the one-star Michelin restaurant La Chassagnette when Armand Arnal, the chef and owner, rushed into the dining room and ordered me to follow him. He led me out the door and into his five-acre fruit, vegetable and herb garden. | ARLES, France — I was finishing the first course at the one-star Michelin restaurant La Chassagnette when Armand Arnal, the chef and owner, rushed into the dining room and ordered me to follow him. He led me out the door and into his five-acre fruit, vegetable and herb garden. |
| “Look at the sky!” he cried. “Aren’t they fabulous? They’re eating all the insects. This proves I am 100 percent organic, that I don’t use pesticides.” | “Look at the sky!” he cried. “Aren’t they fabulous? They’re eating all the insects. This proves I am 100 percent organic, that I don’t use pesticides.” |
| I looked up. The moon was full. The sky was dark with black birds. | I looked up. The moon was full. The sky was dark with black birds. |
| I looked again. Those weren’t birds. They were bats. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them, racing, swooping, shifting, jerking as they homed in on their prey. | I looked again. Those weren’t birds. They were bats. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them, racing, swooping, shifting, jerking as they homed in on their prey. |
| Mr. Arnal is a chef of surprises. So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that he wanted to show off his bats. I had come to his restaurant, after all, to eat bull. | Mr. Arnal is a chef of surprises. So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that he wanted to show off his bats. I had come to his restaurant, after all, to eat bull. |
| Bull meat is a delicacy here in the Camargue, a vast triangular plain between the Mediterranean and the two branches of the Rhône River. The region is known for its brine lagoons, rough pasture, pink flamingos, red rice, salt mines, fierce mosquitoes and an ancient breed of white horses. Then there are the bulls, small, black and muscular. | Bull meat is a delicacy here in the Camargue, a vast triangular plain between the Mediterranean and the two branches of the Rhône River. The region is known for its brine lagoons, rough pasture, pink flamingos, red rice, salt mines, fierce mosquitoes and an ancient breed of white horses. Then there are the bulls, small, black and muscular. |
| Taureau de Camargue, or bull of the Camargue, is a generic term for a type of bovine raised only in this region. Strange as it may seem, the term here is used for both the male and female animals (although “vachette,” for young or little cow, is also sometimes applied to the latter). Both sexes have horns turned upward in the shape of lyres and (it is said here) are blessed with intelligence far superior to that of the Spanish variety. And both sexes are eaten. | Taureau de Camargue, or bull of the Camargue, is a generic term for a type of bovine raised only in this region. Strange as it may seem, the term here is used for both the male and female animals (although “vachette,” for young or little cow, is also sometimes applied to the latter). Both sexes have horns turned upward in the shape of lyres and (it is said here) are blessed with intelligence far superior to that of the Spanish variety. And both sexes are eaten. |
| Their meat is bright red, with a slightly stronger taste than conventional beef. Because they run free and forage for food, they do not develop the fatty marbling of most beef. Their flesh is firm and lean, so it must be served very rare to stay tender. | Their meat is bright red, with a slightly stronger taste than conventional beef. Because they run free and forage for food, they do not develop the fatty marbling of most beef. Their flesh is firm and lean, so it must be served very rare to stay tender. |
| Mr. Arnal, 35, is one of the Camargue’s culinary champions of bulls. He is the founder of an organization of local chefs and other food artisans dedicated to raising, producing and preparing good-quality products. He edits an occasional newsletter, recipes included. And he serves Camargue bull for pleasure, not profit. | Mr. Arnal, 35, is one of the Camargue’s culinary champions of bulls. He is the founder of an organization of local chefs and other food artisans dedicated to raising, producing and preparing good-quality products. He edits an occasional newsletter, recipes included. And he serves Camargue bull for pleasure, not profit. |
| He started early that evening by making a Bull Shot cocktail, a variation on the Bloody Mary. He used a rich brown bull bouillon, blended with vodka, fresh cucumber juice, a squeeze of lemon, salt, sliced Japanese black pepper, one celery stick, one cucumber stick and a sprig of a local leafy herb called pimprenelle. | He started early that evening by making a Bull Shot cocktail, a variation on the Bloody Mary. He used a rich brown bull bouillon, blended with vodka, fresh cucumber juice, a squeeze of lemon, salt, sliced Japanese black pepper, one celery stick, one cucumber stick and a sprig of a local leafy herb called pimprenelle. |
| “Now this,” he said, as he squirted a bit more lemon into each glass, “is a real Bull Shot.” | “Now this,” he said, as he squirted a bit more lemon into each glass, “is a real Bull Shot.” |
| That was followed by a soup of bitter greens with a dollop of young brebis cheese; juliennes of raw citronelle-marinated bull with salad greens; grilled bull-meat ravioli with puréed green beans; and thick bull steaks with eggplant and figs. | That was followed by a soup of bitter greens with a dollop of young brebis cheese; juliennes of raw citronelle-marinated bull with salad greens; grilled bull-meat ravioli with puréed green beans; and thick bull steaks with eggplant and figs. |
| We drank two regional organic wines: an earthy 2011 Marc Kreydenweiss Costières de Nîmes rosé and a 2012 Roc d’Anglade red from Languedoc. By the time we finished at 11:30 p.m., the frogs in the garden were croaking; the bulls farther afield were mooing. | We drank two regional organic wines: an earthy 2011 Marc Kreydenweiss Costières de Nîmes rosé and a 2012 Roc d’Anglade red from Languedoc. By the time we finished at 11:30 p.m., the frogs in the garden were croaking; the bulls farther afield were mooing. |
| In 1996, Camargue bull became the first bovine meat to receive the coveted governmental designation A.O.C. (Appellation of Controlled Origin), which guarantees that the animals have been raised on specific pasturelands. (A.O.C. status has been given to regional products like lavender essence from Provence, black olives from Nyons, green lentils from the Auvergne and oysters from Languedoc.) | In 1996, Camargue bull became the first bovine meat to receive the coveted governmental designation A.O.C. (Appellation of Controlled Origin), which guarantees that the animals have been raised on specific pasturelands. (A.O.C. status has been given to regional products like lavender essence from Provence, black olives from Nyons, green lentils from the Auvergne and oysters from Languedoc.) |
| Bulls have been spared mad cow disease, which has infected animals that fed on meat and bone meal. “It was officially determined that bull is a pure food good for your health,” Mr. Arnal said. “It was a miracle.” | Bulls have been spared mad cow disease, which has infected animals that fed on meat and bone meal. “It was officially determined that bull is a pure food good for your health,” Mr. Arnal said. “It was a miracle.” |
| In Mr. Arnal’s world, apparently, you can never get enough bull. So the next day, he took me for lunch at L’Estrambord, a no-frills restaurant on the side of the highway near the town Le Sambuc. | |
| “There’s nothing chichi here,” said Eric Lacanaud, the owner and chef, as he led us onto an outdoor terrace covered with a roof of thick vines. After serving giant water snails with aioli, a green salad with hard-boiled eggs and anchovies, and squid with potatoes in a pink rouille, he arrived carrying a big black iron pot: braised bull cheek that had been marinated in merlot and slow-cooked in the oven. Rice was served on the side. | |
| The one-star meal from the night before was forgotten. I learned that Mr. Lacanaud’s bull-cheek dish is so special that last September he was asked to make it at a food festival in Istanbul. (He took along his own bull meat.) | |
| The bull is both respected and promoted in the Camargue. The Arles tourism office sells bull mugs, pendants and postcards. La Boutique des Passionnés carries more than 2,000 book titles about bulls, including histories, coffee-table books, cookbooks and novels; DVDs of bullfights; and CDs of Spanish music. Art galleries show paintings of bulls. In the ancient Roman theater of Arles, images of bulls adorn friezes. | The bull is both respected and promoted in the Camargue. The Arles tourism office sells bull mugs, pendants and postcards. La Boutique des Passionnés carries more than 2,000 book titles about bulls, including histories, coffee-table books, cookbooks and novels; DVDs of bullfights; and CDs of Spanish music. Art galleries show paintings of bulls. In the ancient Roman theater of Arles, images of bulls adorn friezes. |
| Then there’s the American connection. In the early 20th century, Marquis Folco de Baroncelli, an eccentric French aristocrat, invited Buffalo Bill Cody and his Dakota Sioux to bring their traveling Wild West Show to his estate in the Camargue. The marquis later corresponded with a Dakota Sioux named Jacob White Eyes and sometimes wore a Sioux headdress. He also used the lore and romance of the Wild West to help transform local bull and horse breeding into a noble profession. | Then there’s the American connection. In the early 20th century, Marquis Folco de Baroncelli, an eccentric French aristocrat, invited Buffalo Bill Cody and his Dakota Sioux to bring their traveling Wild West Show to his estate in the Camargue. The marquis later corresponded with a Dakota Sioux named Jacob White Eyes and sometimes wore a Sioux headdress. He also used the lore and romance of the Wild West to help transform local bull and horse breeding into a noble profession. |
| Then as now, the primary destination for a Camargue bull was not the dinner plate but the bullring. The goal is for the animal to become a king or queen of the “course” (the race), a codified, bloodless version of a classic bullfight. Trumpets blare. The bull runs around an arena with a rosette or other decoration attached between its horns. The raseteur, a man dressed in white wielding a hooked instrument in one hand, is supposed to remove it. The raseteurs leap around and into the stands while the bull charges. Sometimes the bull leaps into the stands as well. The audience cheers. The overture of “Carmen” plays. | Then as now, the primary destination for a Camargue bull was not the dinner plate but the bullring. The goal is for the animal to become a king or queen of the “course” (the race), a codified, bloodless version of a classic bullfight. Trumpets blare. The bull runs around an arena with a rosette or other decoration attached between its horns. The raseteur, a man dressed in white wielding a hooked instrument in one hand, is supposed to remove it. The raseteurs leap around and into the stands while the bull charges. Sometimes the bull leaps into the stands as well. The audience cheers. The overture of “Carmen” plays. |
| To learn more, I visited Henri and Annie Laurent, who breed bulls and horses on their estate here. Bull and horse sculptures and paintings fill the living room; the heads of two black bulls peer out from their perch on a wall in the library. The Souleiado fabric design house has created special tablecloths, plates and draperies for its bull breed, and the fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier has created gaucho-style outfits for Ms. Laurent. American tourists on cruises often stop by for a visit. | To learn more, I visited Henri and Annie Laurent, who breed bulls and horses on their estate here. Bull and horse sculptures and paintings fill the living room; the heads of two black bulls peer out from their perch on a wall in the library. The Souleiado fabric design house has created special tablecloths, plates and draperies for its bull breed, and the fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier has created gaucho-style outfits for Ms. Laurent. American tourists on cruises often stop by for a visit. |
| Patrick Laurent, the couple’s son, told me that every bull has a name, and posters advertising races feature the bull, not the men who challenge them. Over the years, the bull gains experience, cunning and savoir faire. Only the weakest (and they are very few) are slaughterhouse candidates. (Bulls that have run in races are barred from receiving A.O.C. designation.) | |
| Goya, a bull from the Laurent estate who died in 1986 at the age of almost 23, was such a star that a statue of him was erected in the nearby city Beaucaire. “Goya’s specialty was that he always sent someone to the hospital,” Henri Laurent exclaimed. “He was such a little rogue!” | Goya, a bull from the Laurent estate who died in 1986 at the age of almost 23, was such a star that a statue of him was erected in the nearby city Beaucaire. “Goya’s specialty was that he always sent someone to the hospital,” Henri Laurent exclaimed. “He was such a little rogue!” |
| Patrick Laurent and I drove among the bulls in a pickup. Each had been branded with its own number. Most let us pass, but one was so high-spirited that it ran and jumped close to the truck as if wanting to play. Mr. Laurent pointed out another that limped because a hind leg had been broken a few years before. “He was such a star that we’ll let him live in dignity and die of old age,” he said. “Maybe only one out of a thousand is a lazy good-for-nothing. Only then do you kill them. And eat them.” | Patrick Laurent and I drove among the bulls in a pickup. Each had been branded with its own number. Most let us pass, but one was so high-spirited that it ran and jumped close to the truck as if wanting to play. Mr. Laurent pointed out another that limped because a hind leg had been broken a few years before. “He was such a star that we’ll let him live in dignity and die of old age,” he said. “Maybe only one out of a thousand is a lazy good-for-nothing. Only then do you kill them. And eat them.” |