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Eating horsemeat in France

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11–20 of 229 posts

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#12
Long ago I tried horse meat salami in France. It wasn’t terrible, but I prefer pork, or rather that’s what I was/am used to. Americans are surprised to hear when I talk about eating rabbit (again in France when I was a kid.) Those cute furry animals are delicious :)

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#14
When I was a kid at school (France, late 70's), eating horse meat was something heard of. Not the kind of may you could eat everyday but you would see some at the butcher's (au least in the western suburbs of Paris). I never had some at the school canteen (I think).

Fast forward 40 years, same city. There is no horse meat anywhere. Eating some is unheard of. I just asked my teenage children: they never heard of it (and we're surprised that it was something you eat).

Of course this is just one data point, but I guess this is the general state today for middle class people in that region.

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#15
post #10

Eating horse meat was very common in central Europe before the big wars. In WWI and WWII even more so, horses were declared essential for the war in axis countries, and eating them became illegal. In Italy horse meat picked right up again after WWII, but in Austria and Germany people forgot about the reasons it seems and it stayed unacceptable/frowned upon. You can find (excellent) horse meat products in western Aust…

> the reaction you get is typically "Eeehwww!

i understand when people react that way to eating dog or smth, but horses and cows are same family of animald

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#16
post #10

Eating horse meat was very common in central Europe before the big wars. In WWI and WWII even more so, horses were declared essential for the war in axis countries, and eating them became illegal. In Italy horse meat picked right up again after WWII, but in Austria and Germany people forgot about the reasons it seems and it stayed unacceptable/frowned upon. You can find (excellent) horse meat products in western Aust…

German here, horse meat isn't very hard to find. It's not commonly sold in stores, but it's everything but unacceptable.

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#17

When I was a kid at school (France, late 70's), eating horse meat was something heard of. Not the kind of may you could eat everyday but you would see some at the butcher's (au least in the western suburbs of Paris). I never had some at the school canteen (I think). Fast forward 40 years, same city. There is no horse meat anywhere. Eating some is unheard of. I just asked my teenage children: they never heard of it (a…

There's still a boucherie chevaline on Rue Daguerre I believe

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#18

When I was a kid at school (France, late 70's), eating horse meat was something heard of. Not the kind of may you could eat everyday but you would see some at the butcher's (au least in the western suburbs of Paris). I never had some at the school canteen (I think). Fast forward 40 years, same city. There is no horse meat anywhere. Eating some is unheard of. I just asked my teenage children: they never heard of it (a…

diets have become much less varied: back home people eat chicken hearts and stomacks, they are mostly muscle and actually taste nice. All i see for sale in UK is liver which tastes very different to 'normal' meat, not a fan

Also it's now difficult to find rabbit and goose - they used to be normal, if not everyday, food

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#19
post #9
post #4

If I were single I'd try it. My wife would not be happy if I ate horse (she's an equestrian). One thing the article didn't mention is whether the horses are raised for meat or if they are simply old horses that are no longer useful. I'd imagine a young horse would be more tender. Also, I wonder if the butchers sell meat from a stallion or if it has a different flavor.

Everyone in my family rides horses and eats horse meat; we don't see any problem with that -- at least we didn't. I haven't had horse for a long time, but when I was a child we had tartare de cheval every Saturday for lunch (and we went to ride horses the following day). In French riding horses is "monter à cheval" but many people (who usually don't ride) improperly say "faire du cheval". The appropriate answer when…

Similar quirk that irks me in English is 'horseback riding': it's just 'riding' - or 'riding on horseback', 'horse riding' - the whole thing's coming!

'horseback riding' to me sounds like it's supposed to be a humourous phrase along the lines of 'driving a desk' (a sort of blue-collar self-deprecation for having moved up from driving whatever vehicle) - like you're still in training and haven't been given a live horse yet or something.

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#20
We eat horsemeat in Italy as well, though not very commonly. I did a few times, eh, nothing to write home about. Also donkey meat ragu once, that was pretty good.

AFAIK rabbit meat is not viewed very well across the pond either, like in the US. Correct me if I'm wrong.

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