Horse Meat commonly eaten in Europe and Asia; not so much in the US

[itsrobert]

Banned in California and Illinois.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_meat

[piratefish08]

1. I've seen it in the supermarkets and on a plate in Switzerland.

Beef and poultry were ridiculously expensive there. Horse was one of the more affordable alternatives.

They also sold and served a lot of wild game as well.........

[Bigmack]

2. I'm bracing myself for flames....

but with the economy depressed, lots of folks can't afford their horses anymore.

A friend has taken in 5 because she has pasture. Pasture isn't enough for horses, tho.

Recreational horses are very expensive in terms of the environment, too.

Sooooo...

Maybe it would be best if horses were back on the bill of fare.

Better than them starving to death.

[itsrobert]

3. Also, babies and dogs

and old people.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[itsrobert]

15. Okay, Ponies then

happy now?

[Bigmack]

22. Oh my goodness...

that certainly was a foolish comparison you made... lumping horses and babies together as menu items. I carefully noted horses only.

What a foolish person you are!

(Mods deleted my first reply. They obviously felt my heartfelt denunciation of your intellect was in insult. If I'd have known they were going to delete... I'd have really let you have it. Your response was truly ridiculous.)

[itsrobert]

26. As was your initial statement

now lighten up Stanley.

[Bigmack]

32. Tell me how it was foolish. nt

[cornermouse]

27. Soylent Green

Gave me nightmares for months.

[Ohio Metal]

35. It wasn't even a good baby n/t

[piratefish08]

4. It was my understanding that Switzerland imported most of there horse meat from Canada.

I could be wrong on that point -it was hearsay. But the eating of it was neither uncommon or frowned on.

I didn't like it, but who was I to judge - different country, different culture.

[Call Me Wesley]

7. Actually, the horses come from the US.

But there are no slaughterhouses for them in the US anymore, so they are shipped to either Canada or Mexico to be killed. Local horse meat in Switzerland is only about 10% of the whole amount.

The horses are US horses.

[alfredo]

9. It's a good lean meat, and quite tasty. I like goat, buffalo,

elk, and wild boar. Cows aren't the only tasty meat. With what they have done to cows with the corn based diet and chemicals injected, buffalo and wild meats seem a better way to go.

Read "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan.


http://www.amazon.com/Defense-Food-Eaters-Manifesto/dp/0143114964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267463298&sr=8-1

[Retrograde]

16. It has a distinctive taste

a little sweeter, and a lot leaner, than beef, IMHO, based on my very small sample. I've had it once in France, and have seen it advertised at a butcher's in Italy.

Avoidance of horsemeat goes way back in English culinary tradition, which had a big influence on the US.

[alfredo]

18. With sea life crashing, we will have to find other forms

of protein.

[Retrograde]

33. Something quicker than large herbivore

Dare I say rodents? They would seem a lot more efficient at converting stuff to protein than cows, horses or even sheep. People in the Andes have eaten guinea pig for generations - they're small, grow quickly, and can eat stuff people would normally discard, like vegetable peelings. I've never had them myself, but people in some areas do eat squirrels (the ones here who dig up my potted plants 1) are protected for some reason and 2) carry a number of not-so-pleasant parasites, but if they could be raised in a more controlled environment might be a good source of protein).

My cultural upbringing makes me draw the line at worms, though. Illogical, I'll admit.

[alfredo]

38. Rabbits are tasty, grow quickly, eats weeds. Goats are tasty

and are very good at clearing underbrush.

[TwilightGardener]

39. I do like a good bison burger, now that you mention it.

Horsemeat--no. Can't do it. Would be like eating a dog (yes, I know, Koreans do it...).

[Edweird]

17. Some people down here are way ahead of you....

20th Horse Slaughtered In S. Fla.
SPCA: Horses Killed For Meat

http://www.justnews.com/news/20810155/detail.html

[ThomWV]

5. You used to be able to buy it in the DC area, when I was a kid

the simple fact is that no one breeds horses for foodstuff, so there really just aren't that many of them around. I'd just take a wild guess and say that we probably slaughter more cows every month than there are horses in the country. Wild guess, that's all - don't flame me on it.

As for the meat, well, meat is meat. How its any different than eating a cow is beyond me, or a pig (which is smarter) or a cat, which tastes much better.

On Edit: It was also available in the Cleveland area in the late 50's.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. Horse goes along with the cat and dog thing...

intellectually, I don't see any difference between a pig and a cat as far as eating it goes, but I just couldn't eat a cat or a dog, having had them as "family members." Call me silly, but it's just getting a little too close to cannibalism for me. Parakeets and canaries, the same way-- they may all be meat, but they ain't dinner.

I don't much care for horses, and would never own one, but would eat one. However, I could easily see how some people would be horrified at the thought of seeing Ol' Dobbin on the plate.

[madokie]

20. I'm not sure the red meat and potatoes that we had in c rations

wasn't horse meat.

[ThomWV]

29. I gained weight on C's

No shit.

[Thothmes]

23. When I was growing up in the late 40s in Washington State.

markets use to carry horse meat. During WWII, horse meat was not rationed, while beef was. A lot of folks during the war grew to like it.
Seems like in the early 50s it disappeared from the local markets.

[dustbunnie]

6. We tend to frown on eating companion animals, and horses fall into that category.

The meat is almost purplish in color and it's very lean and to my taste, almost sickly sweet. You have to mix the meat well with worchestershire sauce, dijon and garlic to get a good burger out of it.

Popular with athletes though because it's so lean.

[Call Me Wesley]

10. Kind of hypocritical, since most European imports of horse meat

are actual US horses. http://www.animals-angels.com/index.php?pageID=563&syndicat=f82f7ef3f4e7cc6bff001557831eced8 (graphic warning on link.)

Eating of horse meat may be frown upon in the US, but that obviously doesn't stop shipping US horses to Mexico and Canada for the killing, meat packing and exporting.

And no, I don't eat it. I did have it years ago, but I also ate snails once and turtle soup. I won't have it again.

[Heidi]

12. It's like if we in Switzerland exported all of our lambs or calves for slaughter in Germany

and purchase/consumption in the US. Hypocrisy is exactly the right term when it comes to Americans (and I'm American, before anyone jumps down my throat) criticizing Europeans for consuming horse flesh, when the US does, in fact, export horses (via Canada and Mexico) for human consumption. Don't like it that other nations consume horse flesh? Then stop making US horses available for human consumption. Pretty simple, really.

[Warpy]

11. I saw it in Safeway International in Washington DC

in the early 70s, along with bison, water buffalo, rhinoceros, bear, and all sorts of other exotic meats in the freezer that were kept to satisfy the cravings of foreign diplomats. I didn't see dog meat, but I'm sure it was there somewhere, probably by special order.

I'm not fond of meat so I don't eat it and wasn't tempted to try any of the exotic offerings, but they are available here and there in the US in specialty ethnic groceries and other international supermarkets.

I think the resistance to horse meat in this country stems from the absolute dependence people had on the horse until cars and mechanized farm equipment took over in the late 1920s to early 1940s. It's the same sort of cultural taboo they have in India over eating cattle, used as transportation, beasts of burden, and for milk.

However, you never know what you'll find in grotty ethnic markets and the occasional international supermarket.

[Orangepeel]

13. I would never eat horse meat. But I do understand the arbitrariness of that sentiment

I occasionally eat cow and pig. I'm sure I'd eat a horse if I were hungry enough.

edited because I realized I contradicted myself between the subject and the message. I would "never" heat horse meat unless I thought I had to not to starve.

[hayu_lol]

21. Have to chuckle a bit over horse meat being sold and consumed...

During WWII, regular meat was severely rationed...and if you didn't have the ration coupons(points)you couldn't buy any in any case.

At the same time, in Los Angeles at least, there were stores selling horse meat for pet owners. We had to get it for our dog...cooked it with a little garlic because he seemed to like it better. There were a lot of non-pet owners buying it as well, shoppers waiting to buy used to talk about different ways to cook the meat.

It was also considerably cheaper than regular meat.

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. I guess that we are more 'progressive' than Europeans

[Codeine]

24. More squeamish at least. nt

[GA_ArmyVet]

25. Just my opinion of it

from having eaten it while in Germany and Italy..

It smells like rotten ass, and tastes the way I imagine rotten ass would taste.

[Vickers]

28. I was eating it by accident in Germany. I used to stop at an Imbiss

on the B40 ("40 Mark Strasse!") near Sembach and order a "frikadellen" which was kind of like a spicy hamburger.

I'd been there about a year and my German was improving, and noticed on the posted menu that it said "mit Pferdefleisch" ...oops!

I kept eating them anyway, since they were delicious. Not sure I'd want them now.

[hobbit709]

30. Horse was hunted and eaten long before humans learned to ride.

[HopeHoops]

31. Well, there is Burger King.

Whatever that shit is, it certainly isn't beef.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

34. I ate it raw in Japan

I was staying at a minshuku (B&B, only they serve dinner, too) in the mountains and was served the typical minshuku meal of 12 different items in small portions. One of the items was strips of red meat. I asked the minshuku owner what it was, and she said, "Basashi."

I had heard somewhere that this referred to raw horse meat, so I asked carefully, "You mean 'horse sashimi'?"

She smiled and nodded.

At a minshuku, unlike the more upscale ryokan, you eat with the other guests, so I watched to see what they were doing with it. They were picking up the little strips of meat with their chopsticks and dredging them in soy sauce, so I did the same. The overwhelming flavor was that of soy sauce.

Another guest told me that since it is not safe to eat freshwater fish raw, people in the mountains satisfied their craving for raw stuff by eating various types of meat raw.

[CRK7376]

36. I had horse in

Japan in '88-89 timeframe. Tasted good to me....but messed with the mind for awhile. Worried I was eating Trigger or some other hollywood horse....

[hamsterjill]

37. Let's keep at least a few things specific to the US

I don't want the US to become like the rest of the world in eating horse meet. We need a few customs that stay with us just because they are OUR customs and practices.

The horse has been viewed as a companion animal for centuries. It is an animal respected and revered and strongly entrenched in American history.

I know the debate about the horse slaughter plants. But I still don't want them to be legal in the U.S.