Little Difference #9 - Horse Meat
Yup. You can buy it at the grocery stores here. For most Americans horse meat is a taboo food. Similarly it is in Ireland, Australia, English Canada and the U.K. However, this is not so for most of Europe and Japan. In Japan, horse meat is served thinly sliced and raw as sashimi. In Italy it is used in a stew called pastissada. In France and Belgium it is used in steak tartare. Horse sausage is common in many European countries as well.
Prior to 2007 there were 3 horse slaughter houses in the U.S. The meat was sold to zoos or exported to Asia and Japan for human consumption. In 2007 they were all shut down. There is a bill called the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, that if passed would make the killing of horses for human consumption illegal. Currently it is only illegal in California and Illinois.
Here are links to the sources I used to write this post. Very interesting I must say.
Horse Slaughter
Metafilter
Chow
Zoo - Seattle
Now Public
I can't end this post without asking if you've ever tried horse meat? I'd also love to know the most unusual or exotic meat you've ever eaten.
As you may know, I'm totally squeamish when it comes to meat. I'd have to say Peking Duck (with the head still on) is the most exotic meat I've eaten. Bryce, on the other hand . . . he had goat brains in India. He said they were squishy . . .as you might expect.
Yup. You can buy it at the grocery stores here. For most Americans horse meat is a taboo food. Similarly it is in Ireland, Australia, English Canada and the U.K. However, this is not so for most of Europe and Japan. In Japan, horse meat is served thinly sliced and raw as sashimi. In Italy it is used in a stew called pastissada. In France and Belgium it is used in steak tartare. Horse sausage is common in many European countries as well.
Prior to 2007 there were 3 horse slaughter houses in the U.S. The meat was sold to zoos or exported to Asia and Japan for human consumption. In 2007 they were all shut down. There is a bill called the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, that if passed would make the killing of horses for human consumption illegal. Currently it is only illegal in California and Illinois.
Here are links to the sources I used to write this post. Very interesting I must say.
Horse Slaughter
Metafilter
Chow
Zoo - Seattle
Now Public
I can't end this post without asking if you've ever tried horse meat? I'd also love to know the most unusual or exotic meat you've ever eaten.
As you may know, I'm totally squeamish when it comes to meat. I'd have to say Peking Duck (with the head still on) is the most exotic meat I've eaten. Bryce, on the other hand . . . he had goat brains in India. He said they were squishy . . .as you might expect.
18 comments:
So...did you buy some? Can it be ordered in restaurants? Are horses raised specifically for slaughter there?
I'm a very squeamish diner, too. Probably the most exotic thing I've ever eaten would be alligator.
Oh goodness, I can't imagine. BLECH!! Being a former vegetarian, I can barely handle the "normal" meats, absolutely nothing exotic for me! Wasn't that duck eating experience when you were at Glenridge for the Author visit? I seem to remember hearing about it.
oooo, good questions Mama Llama -
1) no didn't buy any. Taboo for me, I'm afraid.
2) Not sure about the restaurants. My guess is yes - probably more likely in France, Belgium or Italy (just a guess)
3) Not sure if they are raised specifically for slaughter. Did read that Italy produces the most horse meat of the European countries.
Was the alligator deep fried? Couldn't have done it myself.
Lisa, yes it was in Kent at that author visit. I never ever would have eaten it, but she ordered it and was really excited about it. I thought it was fatty and greasy. But then I'm abnormal when it comes to meat consumption.
Horse meat seems like it would be tuff...not sure why, but it looks like a pretty lean meat. I don't know if I could eat it, and that is saying a lot...I have had rattlesnake and frogs legs, but that probably isn't really exotic.
Horse seems pretty bad, but i don't eat any meat...
Could you please check the zoo-seattle link? I'd like to check it out, too, but it's a duplicate of another.
CJ - I fixed the link. Thanks for letting me know it was a duplicate.
you're killing me! poor, poor horsies.
when I was in france at age 13 I was served escargot (a cheap cafeteria version). I just poked it with my spoon though, didn't eat it.
I still have trauma symptoms thinking about the little red veins in chicken meat that I ate in my preveggie days...
The alligator was grilled.
There used to be a restaurant near me where you chose your own meat out of a cooler, then cooked it yourself on this huge grill in the middle of the place. There were lots of strange choices - ostrich and alligator still come to mind.
I think I was trying to impress my date, and as I recall it tasted like chicken.
I second Juleskies. Horse meat is probably pretty tough, which is probably the reason it's used for something like a tartare.
I know for certain I couldn't buy it in the supermarket, and I don't think I could be convinced to try it if someone else did, either.
I have another question! How does the cost of it compare to other meats?
Unfortunately my mom and her family grew up on horse meet in the 40s and 50s because they couldn't afford to eat anything else. I'm afraid numerous families in the US at that time were in the same boat. I think they had too many meals of rice, milk and raisins and my midwest Grandma felt some tpye of meat was needed for their diet. My Grandma always passed it off as beef in a stew because my Grandfather refused to acknowledge he was eating horse. I wonder, is it still a cheaper meat to buy in Europe?
When I was a kid - in Belgium - my Grandma used to serve me horse meat because it was supposed to be good for kids. It tasted good, something between beef and duck. In my town, there were butchers specialized in horse meat... But now, I could not eat it anymore. Even though I know it's a really tasty meat, it's just impossible for me now...
You know, I live in Denmark, just a little north of Luxembourg, and I have to tell you, we don't eat horse meat. I love following your little differences, keep going! :)
I am from Kazakhstan and I live in France now. In both countries people eat horse meet. I ate it back in my homecountry and I like it in the form of a sausage (usually it is home-made sausage). It tastes very good. Kazakhs were nomads like Mongols, so the horse meat was and still is one of the main type of meat people eat. Here in France French eat horse meat cooked to rare. It is not tough, on contrary it is very soft when it is cooked like that, and it is delicious. In our small town in the south-west we have a bi-weekly local farmers' market and there is a permament stand of a horse meat producer. The meat is not cheap.
Having lived in Japan, I have had horse "japanese style" aka sashimi too many times to count....it was a speciallty in the small town where I was teaching and always served at gatherings so it would have been rude to turn it down. Not the best thing I have ever eaten and not the worst. I have eaten bugs in Thailand,blowfish in Japan, chicken feet in Taiwan, alligator, nutria, and crawfish as a result of being a proud Cajun from south Louisiana and all sorts of other odd things....I am willing to try anything at least once. But the worst thing I have had so far was crab innards in Japan. It was presented to me as a gift from the chef (I was one of only two foreigners in our rural area). I love boiled crabs so I was especially excited to try it until I saw what was happening. Instead of eating any of the meat in the claws...all of the lungs and inside "mush" that I have been told never to eat was mixed with sake in the crab shell and presented to me to drink in front of the whole table and the chef. I nearly vomited right there, but somehow kept it down. Still makes me queasy to think about it. Must have been a little unnerving for you to see horse meat in the grocery store. I really enjoy these little difference posts.
When I was little a babysitter fed me horse meat once. I puked right on the table when she told me.
As you know Im a vegan and can't comment much more than that on this post, lol.
:) :)
i have never eaten any exotic type meats.. but I my thoughts are ... is that meat is meat...
If it comes from a animal.. i dont really think you can judge... a cow or a horse?? well they are pretty similar...
Oh i lie!! I have eaten Kangaroo!! Australia is the only country that eats its coat of arms!!! ha hahaha... It tasted like meat.. i have eaten it twice.. but it is hard when you think of the cute things jumping around.. that I am not sure I can do it again..
but I can't judge others for eating it if I eat cows, pigs, lamb, chicken etc etc...
Squirrel, alligator, reindeer, turtle, horse, snake. Go to China, close your eyes, and you'll eat things you'd never imagine possible.
Hi,
horse tasts very good. Visit the restaurant D'Artagan in Luxembourg
and order the horse steak called Athos (with garlic+onions). Delicious.
http://www.yellow.lu/annuaire/search?max=25&stype=1&q=d%27artagnan&geo=
Post a Comment