Mr. Edible: What's wrong with eating horse meat?

by Victoria Revay | May 16, 2007 at 09:08 am
8784 views | 25 Recommendations | 14 comments

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ILPH Transportation of Horses for Slaughter Update 2007

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ILPH Transportation of Horses for Slaughter Update 2007

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Rika's Cam 313

Rika's Cam 313

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This is the debate that's creating a big stink in the blogosphere and apparently in front of Gordon Ramsey's restaurant. (Ramsey is a big fan of using horse meat in his London restaurant which was  recently the target of a protest that included a dump truck and horse poop.)  I'm not sure how I feel about this issue, but a Telegraph columnist makes convincing arguments for the benefits of consuming (if one was to consume) horse meat.  The article lists the numerous diseases that you can't catch if you eat horse meat, like mad cow, bird flu and tuberculosis and also claims horse meat has half the fat and ten times the Omega 3's of beef...

What do you think?
The reason why it is a Taboo in Anglo/Celtic society , is that Horses were seen as Companions of Men not as Cattle.
A Warrior established a relationship with his Horse and would bury them with respect.

Only Savages eat Horses.
Protesters dressed as horses dumped manure outside the Gordon Ramsay restaurant at Claridge's in London.
It was in France that I first encountered horsemeat. During a brief stint at a Parisian boarding school, it was occasionally served, poached and thinly sliced.
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0
ricknight

I'm not for it, but it's a cultural thing. It's the same revulsion I feel towards the thought of someone eating dog meat. That said, I've seen the faces of people when I try to explain the joys of Haggis and sheep entrails.

In my current relationship, I have to promise not to eat rabbit, lamb, or anything else with a high "cute" factor.

But I understand from people who have fried up my friend Flicka, that it's tasty. [yuck!] Just doesn't float my boat.   

ricknight
ricknight
flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:18 on May 16th, 2007

Victoria Revay, you've made me think -> Good stuff.

Jordan Yerman
Jordan Yerman
flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:26 on May 16th, 2007

On a similar note to ricknight's, I think that public opinion on horsemeat depends on the culture of the public in question. Hindus would feel the same way about eating cows. Indeed, we in the west have an aversion to eating anything that Disney has made a movie of, rather than, as omnivores,  seeing all animals as a potential meal item.

 (Disclosure: I was a vegetarian for 11 years, and had to give it up due to nonhealing injuries; some humans can get away with it, some can't. I've since eaten dog, alligator, rabbit, duck, snake, kangaroo, ostrich, bison, and several forms of insect, but not horse) 

0
matte

I have eaten cute donkey, very nice

I have eaten Bambi deer - also very nice

I have eaten turtle - not keen on the green meat

I have eaten kangaroo - make you fart

I have eaten shark - was standard 'fish' in fish and chips for a long while

I have eaten rabbit - starting to get a little cute

I have eaten whatever I could find when stuck on a deserted island for a week - little crabs, seaweed, sea slugs...

Ultimately we will be eating things near and dear to us - there is a smorgasboard out there! 

1
Markus Schlegel

Eating a horse? No, no, never. At least to me they are (slightly supersized) domestic animals. No can do. But then again, I admit, eating a beef burger or a steak is not more cultivated either. Agree it is a cultural thing. 

0
Mira Lea

I really am fed up with these people who have arbitrarily decided that it is their fundamental right to dictate to the rest of the world what people can and cannot eat. The latest craze is telling entire countries (often not their own) that they cannot slaughter horses for human consumption or eat them.

I have had work horses, and I have had a few 'pet' horses, and although I do not eat horse meat, who am I to tell my neighbour that he or she cannot eat it? I do not have that right, and neither does anyone else; it's not as if they are an endangered species. Where some horses are pets and therefore considered 'companion animals'. most are work animals aka livestock - yes, just like cattle. And, again just like cattle, many breeds are bred for their meat. Several breeds of heavy horses that were replaced by machinery have survived to this day because they were kept as meat animals. The other option was to stop breeding them until they ceased to exist like, for example, the Yorkshire Coach Horse,  to name just one breed out of over one hundred that have been permitted to die out for lack of demand.

If that offends someone's sensibilities, get over it.And while you are at it, please bear in mind the real reason you are able to admire the grace and beauty of, say, the Percheron horse...

1
Don Lee

I live in america, I am christian, People dictate that it is unchristian to eat horse meat. Because of religious reasons. So can also be said about pork. However, Christian people sure gobble pork up! America is famous for being the land of the free. Which I agree for the most part it is. Still there is other things that gets my dander up. If I or anyone, wishes to eat horse meat in america, we should be free to do so. If america will not let us kill or slaughter horse meat in the U.S. for human consumption, people should at least be able to buy it, from imported means. There are those here who argue, horses are pets here. So are Cattle, Goats, Sheep, Pigs, and Birds. Still we eat them!! To me a horse is no different. I might have a pot bellied pig as a pet, but that won't stop me from eating pork chops. A vegitarian here in the U.S. is often repulsed that another would concider eating meat. To bad.. we eat it anyhow. If they don't want it, then don't eat it. This is America People! The Same should apply to horse meat! I have never had a bite of horse meat in my life, However I would eat it, mabie again, and again if I liked the flavor & given the oppertunity. In my Christian walk, the Same God that cleanses,and permits my pork meat eating, would also cleanse my horse meat. If people don't like chitterlings, don't eat them. Same goes for Horse meat. I thought this is the land of the free. Just too many unnessisary rules are being made.

1
Aminda

I'm a Muslim.For me to eat horse meat would be a sin.Horses are pets,they carry us into battle and we ride them for pleasure.When they pass on,we give them a burial with great respect.I wish the horse meat trade would end.

1
Meaghan

STOP eating horses. Its similar to eating a dog. Some people just think of horses as ragged, smelly, animals in the amish village. Thats NOT true. They Make people's lives worth living, including mine and billions of others. It's like eating a sledding dog. Horses are in the olympics, and are extremely beautiful, strong, willing, independent, caring, colorful, free, I could go on. They carried soldiers into war. They are pets, and make lives, they are part of sports, and carry us on their backs. Soon we are going to be eating the bald eagle, i know it. We already eat various birds, cows, calfs, pigs, fish, alligators, ect.

0
soncia

i think you right. i wont eat horse never ever

1
Johnobody

It is a cultural thing, but one cannot impose a cultural more on another merely because it seem distasteful.  I keep rabbits for meat.  I keep goats for meat.  The ones that get names are pets.  The ones that don't get names end up in the freezer.  In the event that I was faced with a choice between my children starving (because we had exhausted all other sources of protein) and eating one of the pets, my family would not be allowed to starve. 


The Biblical objection to eating a horse is the fact that it does not have cloven hooves.  I do not know the reference from The Koran (If one of our Muslim friends could help us out). A rabbit does not have cloven hooves & is therefor not considered a kosher animal.  My goats, on the other hand, do have cloven hooves and meet the other requirements.  My Jewish, Muslim (& Hispanic) friends know I am happy to provide an animal for their family when times are a bit tight.   


When times are easy, you eat what you like.  When times are tight, you eat what you can afford.  When times are desperate, you eat what you can.  When times are terrible, you eat anything that didn't eat you.


1
dunkelberg

Because of all the neigh-sayers, horse slaughter is illegal in the U.S.  Now, horsies destined for the pan or grill are taken north or south of the border.

At the same time, horsehide is prized for many applications, including a jacket I own.

Maybe some believe one shears a horse as one does sheep to get the horse hide?


0
soncia

i will never eat hores meat. i love horses because i have got 5 horses. i don't understant how people can eat. horse was most inportant animal for a humam for thusand years and now they eat them. i can't stand it.

0
glass panel

If eating beef or horse meat is not wrong? Can you think what's correct in eating the horse meat. Is there any food crisis that we need to eat meat!

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ricknight
First Flagged at 9:18 AM, May 16, 2007 by ricknight
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