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What is wrong with eating horses?

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  • What is wrong with eating horses?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/op....13829773.html


    The meat is nothing special but I've had a craving for it once or twice. Americans are weird.

    BORDEAUX, France — 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse," I thought to myself as I sat down to dinner the other night. If I hadn't picked out the steak myself I would have assumed it was a cut of beef. But in fact a horse somewhere, probably in East Europe, had to die for this meal.

    Having never eaten horse meat, I needed all my willpower to swallow the sizzling flesh. The smell and taste were decidedly different, a bit sweet, but it went down and it stayed down. To tell you the truth, I didn't like it at all. Maybe it's an acquired taste; I might try it again some day.

    If I do, I won't be alone. Horse meat is once again a big thing in France, increasingly considered an alternative to expensive beef as food costs rise and people look for cheaper substitutes.

    To be sure, the French patronized their boucheries chevelalines (horse meat butcher shops) throughout the 19th century, when horses were ubiquitous in the streets. (About 62,000 were slaughtered for food in 1911, a record that still stands.)

    With the increase in motorized transportation after World War I, the horse population dwindled, and so did consumption. But today, horse meat sales in France are running about 6 percent ahead of last year, and the past three years have shown steady growth.

    I decided to give it a try at that recent dinner after noticing a buzz at the horse meat stand at the Sunday outdoor market here. Matrons were snapping up filet mignon, beautifully strung roasts, entrecotes, horseburger patties and even liver at prices up to 35 percent less than equivalent cuts of beef. I joined in.

    In other European and Asian countries - including Japan, China, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland - horse meat is a dietary staple. Breeders in East Europe are finding a ready export market for all these destinations. In Siberia, the Yakut horse, bred mainly for its fatty flesh and its high caloric content, is an important part of the local diet.

    "The Italians have recently become the biggest consumers in Europe," says the national vice president of the French Fédération de la Boucherie Hippophagique (horse meat butchers). Even classic Italian Mortadella sausage can be had in a horse meat variety.

    I met the vice president, Eric Vigoureux, behind his refrigerated trailer at the market. His job, besides selling the meat, is to overcome the remaining taboos against human consumption. Monsieur Vigoureux was cheerful and eager to communicate his message - horse meat is lower in fat, higher in protein and cheaper than beef, and the French are queuing up for it, he said. "It used to be red meat for the poor, but it has become democratized since the acceptance of exotic meats - ostrich, bison, that kind of thing. The main drivers are economic."

    The contrasts between French and U.S. culture are endless but I can't think of an instance quite as stark as attitudes toward horse meat. The French consumed 25,380 metric tons in 2006 versus the official U.S. figure of zero. Just last year the final three U.S. horse abattoirs were closed in Texas and Illinois under pressure from animal rights groups. They had been exporting to Europe.

    The mythic image of the noble horse in American history has weighed most heavily in the anti-horse meat campaign in the United States. Celebrities like the singer Willie Nelson have campaigned to stop the slaughter of horses - in the 1990s, about 100,000 a year were killed, processed and shipped to Europe.

    Vigoureux defends modern European slaughterhouse practices, pointing out that horses are rendered unconscious by electroshock, then dispatched by controlled bleeding. "The animal feels no fear, no suffering," he said.

    Some people can't tell the difference between horse and beef. I once overheard an American couple complain in a Paris restaurant that they could not find a decent hamburger in the French capital. When a waiter came by to take their order, he pointed to the "Steak haché (chevaline)" listed on the menu. He did not mention that "chevaline" means horse meat. They ordered it.

    Ten minutes later they were all happily munching their horse burgers. If they had known the truth, they would probably have run screaming into the street.
    Would the couple really be upset? This is just so alien to me.
    Modern man calls walking more quickly in the same direction down the same road “change.”
    The world, in the last three hundred years, has not changed except in that sense.
    The simple suggestion of a true change scandalizes and terrifies modern man. -Nicolás Gómez Dávila

  • #2
    F**king barbarians.
    Speaking of Erith:

    "It's not twinned with anywhere, but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham" - Linda Smith

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    • #3
      Balkan savages

      Dude, it's all about the relationship the animal has with humans. It's why we in the West are disgusted with the idea of eating dogs. Dogs and horses (and I guess, cats) are our companions, not our food.
      "Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
      "I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

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      • #4
        There is nothing wrong with it.
        "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
        "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Wezil View Post
          There is nothing wrong with it.
          Is there anything wrong with eating humans?
          "Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
          "I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

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          • #6
            How about cows Albie? Are they okay?

            Some would call you a barbarian for it.
            "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
            "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

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            • #7
              Do you eat burgers Albie?
              "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
              "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

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              • #8
                Hmmm, horsemeat. Pretty good, especially in a stew.
                "post reported"Winston, on the barricades for freedom of speech
                "I don't like laws all over the world. Doesn't mean I am going to do anything but post about it."Jon Miller

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                • #9
                  Horse is my favourite meat. It's delicious.

                  On top of its qualities, it is also the most humane. "Old" horse meat is significantly more tasty than young horse meat. As a result, baby horses don't get slaughtered, as is the case with suckling pigs, sheep, cattle, and goats. Horse meat is much more likely to have had a long and joyful life.

                  They don't sell it where I live at the moment, unfortunately. Like in a fair number of countries, horse are considered 'noble' animals, as they were used to work the land and power machines. As a result, there is a taboo on eating them.

                  In the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, you can buy horse meat in supermarkets. Usually it's smoked.

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                  • #10
                    I've never had horse meat but I don't have irrational hang ups about it.
                    "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
                    "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

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                    • #11
                      Losing armies often had to resort to eating their horses.

                      Countries that lose a lot tend to consume horses.

                      Therefore, eating horses is for losers.

                      That, and the Queen rides one.
                      (\__/)
                      (='.'=)
                      (")_(") This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your signature to help him gain world domination.

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                      • #12
                        I think it is incredibly useful to be able to ride your meal home.
                        "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
                        "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

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                        • #13
                          You don't want to be riding your meal home. That means you are losing the war. You want to be riding your horse to conquer your enemies, drive them before you, eat their cattle, and hear the lamentations of their women.
                          (\__/)
                          (='.'=)
                          (")_(") This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your signature to help him gain world domination.

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                          • #14
                            Figures. I'm talking about affordable transportation, feeding the hungry and being environmentally friendly and the right-winger wants to talk about war and pillage.
                            "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
                            "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Zoetstofzoetje View Post
                              They don't sell it where I live at the moment, unfortunately.
                              Where the F is that?
                              "post reported"Winston, on the barricades for freedom of speech
                              "I don't like laws all over the world. Doesn't mean I am going to do anything but post about it."Jon Miller

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