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Eating horsemeat in France

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Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#151
post #37

Couple 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.

I find elk and deer venison to be indistinguishable, and uninteresting. If I was starving I'd eat it, but my palette prefers fatty cow.

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#152

It is quite common here in Switzerland. Cafeterias serve it as well as regular restaurants but, admittedly, it is not as common as beef, pork, chicken or lamb. Surprisingly, it is illegal in Texas and other parts of the US though it may not be enforced. Texas even bans transportation of horse meat through the state.

> Surprisingly, it is illegal in Texas

Why is it suprising? Horses are an integral part of history and culture of Texas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#153
post #31

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 c…

> 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. Doesn't this more indicate that many peo…

No, it indicates that people are completely unaware and disconnected from their food. Most people would also be disgusted by having to pluck a chicken, slaughter their meat themselves, or even just make a sausage. Hell, I've seen people disgusted at harvesting vegetables from the garden, eating berries off the bush, or fermenting anything (Oh no, dirt and bugs and bacteria!).

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#154

It is quite common here in Switzerland. Cafeterias serve it as well as regular restaurants but, admittedly, it is not as common as beef, pork, chicken or lamb. Surprisingly, it is illegal in Texas and other parts of the US though it may not be enforced. Texas even bans transportation of horse meat through the state.

> Surprisingly, it is illegal in Texas Why is it suprising? Horses are an integral part of history and culture of Texas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy

It's an integral part of my country's history (much more so than that of Texas IMHO). Same in our neighbor Mongolia. Horse meat isn't illegal here, and never was. I ate it a couple of times and nobody raised an eyebrow.

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#155

It is quite common here in Switzerland. Cafeterias serve it as well as regular restaurants but, admittedly, it is not as common as beef, pork, chicken or lamb. Surprisingly, it is illegal in Texas and other parts of the US though it may not be enforced. Texas even bans transportation of horse meat through the state.

>Surprisingly, it is illegal in Texas and other parts of the US though it may not be enforced.

This is second-hand, but I was told by a horse trainer in Kentucky that one reason is pharmaceutical: the drugs used on most horses in the US as a matter of course make them problematic for eating.

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#156

It is quite common here in Switzerland. Cafeterias serve it as well as regular restaurants but, admittedly, it is not as common as beef, pork, chicken or lamb. Surprisingly, it is illegal in Texas and other parts of the US though it may not be enforced. Texas even bans transportation of horse meat through the state.

> Surprisingly, it is illegal in Texas Why is it suprising? Horses are an integral part of history and culture of Texas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy

Horses are integral to the history and culture of Iceland to the point of having an exclusive breed of horses with their own unique gait yet you can still eat horse here.

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#157
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The psychology of eating animals is definitely a great example of how people compartmentalize and simply avoid thinking about the details too much in order to evade cognitive dissonance. Which is also why so many respond with hostility when prompted to do so. (Disclaimer: I'm an omnivore.)

tbh i dont get why people arent ok eating horse or dog. i've had both and they're fine, like why is this a problem? i will be the first to call out veganism but i also have literally been lectured by meat eaters about how me eating those 2 is wrong and then they have eaten a burger or steak in the same day .

I think a lot of it comes from ancient tribal customs. Many pastoral/nomadic groups, like the Aryans, would only eat horses as a last resort. The horse was so important to the tribe's survival. Incidentally, the same taboo was probably applied to eating cows, as that animal was extremely important for Indo-Aryans' survival. Over time the original meaning of the taboo is lost, it just continues to get enforced by each subsequent generation.

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#158

It is quite common here in Switzerland. Cafeterias serve it as well as regular restaurants but, admittedly, it is not as common as beef, pork, chicken or lamb. Surprisingly, it is illegal in Texas and other parts of the US though it may not be enforced. Texas even bans transportation of horse meat through the state.

> Surprisingly, it is illegal in Texas Why is it suprising? Horses are an integral part of history and culture of Texas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy

Should it be illegal to eat peaches in Atlanta?

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#159

Icelander here. Horse foal meat is some of the more expensive meat you can have at the finer restaurants in the country. At every butcher shops you can find foal meat, and most if not all supermarkets carry horse meat in some way (frozen, salted, smoked or as a sausage etc). The finer foal cuts are really some of the best meat I have ever tasted. Highly recommend.

-- most intense lamb I've ever tried was in Iceland - had lamb many many times in Scotland and it was gamey - but the lamb in Iceland was next level - in fact it was so intense that I tried it at another restaurant the next day just to see if it was the place I'd eaten - nope - just as strong - I wondered why - if you happened to know --

All the sheep in Iceland are let out in the spring and spend their entire time living wild before being rounded up in autumn (which is a really big event). So they spend a lot more time eating quality food and mountain herbs. Makes all the difference. Lamb here really is amazing.

Re: Eating horsemeat in France

#160
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but horses and cows are same family of animal How do you mean? They're not, taxonomically.

‘Family’ doesn’t really have a defined meaning in modern taxonomy. Horses and cows are part of the same clade, ‘ungulata’ - hooved mammals. It’s not a Linnaean taxonomic ally ‘ranked’ clade though, like an ‘order’ or a ‘genus’ - but those terms aren’t really that formally valid, so using ‘family’ informally to mean ‘clade with some reasonable level of shared characteristics’ seems fair. But to also be fair, if you wa…

You can just look this stuff up on wikipedia...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_(biology) "Family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equidae "Equidae (sometimes known as the horse family) is the taxonomic family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, donkeys, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae "The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, bison, buffalo, antelopes, and goat-antelopes. A member of this family is called a bovid."

No, horses and cattle are not in the same family. Nor are they in the same clade; cattle are artiofabula, (ruminants) horses are mesaxonia. (odd toed ungulates) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artiofabula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesaxonia

> But to also be fair, if you want to classify horses and cows as edible based on their shared common ancestry, you’re also arguing for eating giraffes, tapirs, rhinos, hippos, whales and dolphins.

The argument is about whether horses and cattle are in the same family, not that a species' taxonomic classification can be an indication that they ought to be eaten.

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