Out of Pod Experience

When I was a kid, we lived in Belgium for a few years. My mother would rent horse rides from a local stable.

One of the horses threw her once, put her out of action for a few weeks. Apparently the horse had thrown one or two other customers as well. So after she gets healed up, and goes to, well, get back in the saddle again (sorry), the stable owners present her with a big box full of steaks, roasts and burger from the horse. Had to have been 50lbs of free meat in there.

Being the good yuppie liberal touchy-feely type, she threw it all away. My dad was livid.

Horse meat is eaten in many places and is very rich in iron. It has a gamy, bloody taste to it and is used on salad sometimes when shredded into what's called sfilacci in Italy. It's much better than putting crappy bacon bits or croutons in salad. I've tried horse steak on the grill, but it was not to my liking. It wasn't bad, but it has a very strong taste. Donkey, on the other hand, is much, much tastier.

There's no difference between eating horse and eating cow...in fact, horse is probably much better for you due to them being fed decently. Do you use glue? Dead horses. Do you wash your hands with soap? Dead horses.

I have no idea why eating horse meat would be considered taboo if you already eat beef or pork. If anything, drop the pork and stick with horse.

Also, is it just me who finds it funny that the UK is up in arms about horse meat, as if their other alternatives are somehow better when in fact horse meat is probably the best thing for them to eat?

"Would you like some gravy on your ice cream? How about some jam in your pasta? Have some more oil with that...here, let me just dump your entire plate into the fryer. WHAT? HORSE MEAT?!?!?! WHAT ARE WE, CULINARY SAVAGES?"

Yes, although the horse meat would've been an improvement. That goes for northern Europe as well; I don't understand the outrage. If it were labeled soy beef and vegetarians ate it and found out it was real beef or horse meat, I could understand completely. However, these are omnivores complaining that what they thought was cow was actually part horse, as if that's some travesty and much worse than their daily diet of mayonnaise and fried everything.

That's completely understandable, but do people REALLY believe that the beef they buy from the grocery store is from grazing cattle? Maybe 20% of the meat bought is, but the rest is riddled with steroids and all kinds of drugs. I would argue that horse is no less safe than mass-produced beef or pork. At least horses don't eat each other and their own feces...can't say the same about pigs.

'Bute is one of the finest hangover cures known to man.

In India they do not eat cows.
In the middle east they do not eat pigs.
In Israel they do not eat shellfish.
And in Britain we do not eat Horse.

Just saying it how it is, just because we're a Western country doesn't mean we don't draw lines in the sand we hope people respect...

Because of culture, we have it for some reason or another. We are also disgusted by eating baby seals, Wales, Cats, dogs and a cornucopia of other creatures for a plethora of reasons.

Also i wasn't aware of Hinduism giving rise to many religious fanatics...

If you don't eat a cow because you believe it's a deity, you're a religious fanatic. You may not be blowing yourself up in town squares, but you're letting a silly belief override common sense. If a vegan or vegetarian found horse meat in what he or she believed was soy, the outrage would be understandable because they are coming from a nutritional and dietary point of view.

Also, I disagree with your hypothesis. We are not disgusted by eating baby seals, whales, cats, or dogs because we think it's disgusting; we are disgusted by eating them because they're cute, cuddly, and/or majestic creatures and because some of them are heading towards the endangered species list. Therefore, I believe this entire business of being appalled over the eating of horse meat comes from an aesthetic and hypocritical point of view: horses are cute, cows are not. You have a problem with eating horses, not out of any nutritional habit or even the taste, but rather because you think they're cute and cuddly. To you, it's ok to eat meat as long as the animal isn't cute or cuddly. Horse meat is better for you than just about anything else consumed in the UK, so just admit to the hypocrisy of this whole farcical outrage against it.

Like I said before, horse meat isn't to my liking simply because it's too strong, although I do enjoy sfilacci. If you're an omnivore disgusted by the thought of eating a horse but have no problems eating a pig or a cow or a chicken, you're a hypocrite.

I can devour some veal without a care. I also eat deer, boar, and rabbit. I think it should all be eaten in moderation, however. For example, this whole bacon craze is ridiculous, out of hand, and downright irresponsible.

Rainbow Dash-burgers probably taste like cotton candy.

Having spent far too much time near cattle, all can say is "Eurgh."
They smell, they're dumb, they've got constantly-snotty noses, and they have very limited personalities.
Horses, I can relate to. Cows? Not so much.

I commit what could amount to genocide against these adorable wee bastards.

We don't eat horse, part of the culture take it or leave it, the disgust on peoples faces is evident throughout all this and we were told it was beef. Thus far noone I have talked to gives a damn about the nutritional values of Horse : its still a bloody horse. Haven't I already explained why we historically don't eat horse meat and prefer to let children starve to death in favor of the horse pulling the farms plough in the spring? Yes there's sentimentality in there, but this goes across the spectrum of pets, there's a well defined line between pets and domesticated animals.

Kinda curious as to where you are from, this might purely be a British perspective on meat eating but I'll be damned if I'm going to stop being disgusted by eating horse on the grounds that its eaten on the Continent. I'll eat pretty much anything but there are some things I don't think its possible to get onto anyone's plate regardless of dietary benefits. If its hypocritical to you, I bluntly don't care. I think you'll find that outdated perspectives linger in every culture where its not noticed.