Some Calls it House Steak
In many ways, The Faculty Club is lessstately and more raucous than outsiders mightexpect. Take, for example, a sordid tale from itsrecent past. "We had an Era of Horse Steak,beginning in the 1940s, which is always infamous,"Coulson says. During World War II, standard redmeats--beef, pork, veal, lamb, etc.--became hardto come by, and the Club increasingly had to relyon alternative ingredients.
Hence the horse meat.
When the war ended, and with it the rationing,horse meat was removed from the menu. "Theeconomists and others had enjoyed the good,inexpensive horse meat," Coulson says. "And theyasked, 'Where's our horse meat, where's our horsemeat?' So the Club put it back on the menu. It wasthere when I arrived in 1958. A lot of peopleenjoyed it; it's better than venison, I would saythat."
A delectable and patriotic treat, yes. But whatwould Mr. Ed have said?
Coulson recounts another ignominious chapter inthe horse meat saga. Purveyors of horse meatdelivered shipments a few times a year, but their18-wheelers were too bulky to negotiate thestreets of Cambridge. "So they'd call me and saystreets of Cambridge. "So they'd call me and say'We're up at the packing house in Lynn.' So I'd goup in my car and watch this big trailer truckunloading all this horse meat--big barrels ofstuff rolling down the conveyor belt--and a coupleof small boxes marked 'Faculty Club'.
"I was talking to the guy that was running it,and I said, 'My God, all that meat comes out.' Iasked, 'Who uses all this meat?', and he said,'Well, there's three places in the Boston area whouse our horse meat: the zoo, the dog track and TheHarvard Faculty Club."
The Loooooooong Table
At the far end of the main diningroom resides a piece of furniture that has been afixture of the club since its inception on the eveof the Great Depression--a large, rectangulartable dubbed "the Long Table." In theory, the LongTable provides general seating for individuals whoarrive without guests. Instead of dining alone,members can meet new people and discuss theirideas, in the true spirit of the Club.