When I lived in NL, I took a trip to Maastricht which is a beautiful place right in the South and tried a popular local dish - Zoervleis[0] which is traditionally horse meat. It was delicious. It always amuses me that when I tell this story, it's often met with disgust - even by meat-eaters! "But, how could you eat horse! They're so nice!". Yeah... you eat beef, have you ever met a cow up close? They're also lovely creatures! I see this as double-standards - similar to how most meat-eaters also seem so disgusted by the idea of eating dogs in certain parts of Asia.
Eating horsemeat in France
31–40 of 229 posts
Re: Eating horsemeat in France
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 hors…
> it's just 'riding'
You can ride other things beside horses: bikes, motorcycles, scooters...
Re: Eating horsemeat in France
#33Eating 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
I think it has more to do with the assumption that horse meat is probably quite tough and not very appetizing.
Re: Eating horsemeat in France
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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
I know what you mean, because of those 3 species, dogs are the only ones to be commonly kept as pets. But what is it that puts horses, dogs, and cows in the same/different categories?
I would say a dog being a carnivore puts it in a different category. The same reason I wouldn't want to eat a wolf or a big cat.
Re: Eating horsemeat in France
#35Horses are companion animals.
they are also very good stewed
Re: Eating horsemeat in France
#36We ate horse steak in the 80-90’s at Home, in Belgium. Almost every butcher still sells it nowadays. “100gr van ‘t perdje” (100 gram of horse ham)
About the names of these products, horse meat is traditionally called "hamburgerkött" in Swedish. It literally translates to "hamburger meat" (related to the city of Hamburg, and not the dish hamburger).
Re: Eating horsemeat in France
#37Couple of years ago I’ve tried a horse steak. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it tasted just like game or a lean beef steak. I doubt that most people would be able to tell the difference. It was also more expensive and harder to get than beef.
Re: Eating horsemeat in France
#38When I lived in NL, I took a trip to Maastricht which is a beautiful place right in the South and tried a popular local dish - Zoervleis[0] which is traditionally horse meat. It was delicious. It always amuses me that when I tell this story, it's often met with disgust - even by meat-eaters! "But, how could you eat horse! They're so nice!". Yeah... you eat beef, have you ever met a cow up close? They're also lovely c…
You also get this reaction if you declare having eaten what I would call secondary meats (rabbit, duck, lamb).
Re: Eating horsemeat in France
#39Horse meat is not unknown in Sweden but it's uncommon. I remember being surprised during the horsemeat lasagne scandal that horse is a taboo food in the UK and Ireland.
Same in Finland.
Occasionally can be seen, but it is no way stable outside certain sausages.
I think it comes mostly to that they aren't really farmed and if they are given certain medicines they can't be used as food anymore.
Re: Eating horsemeat in France
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 hors…
> it's just 'riding' You can ride other things beside horses: bikes, motorcycles, scooters...
You can usually work it out from the context of the person you know. If you have friends who invite you out ambiguously because they're into both motorcycles and horses, lucky you!