These people at this link suggest that there is a moral difference between eating horse meat vs. cow meat. What do you think?
As I’ve pointed out in other threads, read Marvin Harris’ book Good to Eat, AKA The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig. He’s an anthropologist who has devoted a considerable amount of effort to understanding why people eat what they do. You may disagree with his philosophy and conclusions (I don’t, but I know a lot of people do), but he certainly marshalls enough facts to fall back on. He devotes an entire chapter to the eating and non-eating of horseflesh. It’s not alien to our culture – it’s been practiced several times, and is arguably an older practice than eating bovines. But it hasn’t been common for a long time, largely because the horse is so useful in other ways, and also because we perceive the horse to be more intelligent and pet-like. This has not stopped people from eating dogs, cats, and pigs, however.
I voted “no” on that proposition, but it passed anyway. It’s now illegal to raise horses (or any animal normally considered a “pet”) for meat in California. Japan and several European countries, most notably France, do import horsemeat for consumption. There, it’s considered a gourmet item with a high price, so the volume isn’t large. I saw an item that the demand for North American horsemeat was increasing because of the “hoof and mouth” epidemic which has raised prices and lowered availabilities of European-raised beef and pork.
Whatever prop 6 said, it’s been tried in the US, too. I distinctly remember somebody trying (quite legally) to offer horsemeat for sale back in the 70’s. IIRC, they even tried selling horsemeat based fast-food burgers, among other things. It just didn’t catch on.
Contemplating cannabilism, **Eohippus[\b]?
If I eat horse (which I have, and it’s quite tasty) does this mean that I am not an American anymore? Are people who do not share the majority culture of America not true Americans? How about apple pie? Do I have to eat that?
See y’all in IMHO.
I’m afraid this maybe another one of those “once upon a time” posts.
Once upon a time, Mrs. Gelding and I lived in Germany. Like most decent size towns, the town we lived in had a weekly farmers market. All the area truck farmers would bring their fresh produce into town and set up stands on the town square. The local butchers and bakers had stands or wagons, too. Almost every week Mrs. G. and I would go to the market, buy veggies. fruit and bread and top it all off with a chopped meat sandwich from one of the butchers’ stand. It took Mrs. G. about six months to realize that the pictures of horses that decorated the stand were not mere decoration. Once she figured that out, she never ate there again
On a commercial note, the market for slaughter horses is what provides the floor for saddle and draft horses prices. For instance, if the price for “killers” is $50/hundred weight, the minimum price for a saddle horse is $500. Killer prices are generally $10 or so below the price for live beef. Most killer horses from this area go to Quebec as human food, not for dog food. Selling a horse for slaughter is regarded as a relatively humane way to get a modest return on an aged, crippled or out-law animal.
I’ll add my 2 cents. I love horses and would never eat one, ever. In some places it is acceptable, there are even certain breeds of horses in Europe bred and raised for meat. I think horses have a more “romantic” image and that is why people are so opposed to horse slaughter. Many people are horrified at the thought of Black Beauty ending up on the dinner plate.
What these people don’t understand is there are too many poor quality horses out there! What upsets me is the people who feel that just because they have a mare (female horse) they have to breed her to the stallion (male horse) down the road. So they do this and overlook the faults (lameness, comformation, temperment, etc.) that the breeding horses have. So they end up with a horse they can’t use and nobody else wants to buy, either. Try and sell it at an auction and the high bidder is the killer buyer. And to a point, I agree with horse slaughter, it does have a place when people who know nothing about breeding horses don’t know what to do with the scrub horses they’ve bred. It costs just as much to stable and feed a junky horse that might be too mean to ride as it does a well-bred, useful horse. And guess what happens to the mean, ill-bred, junky horses? Most people don’t want to pay upkeep on a horse they can’t use. Solution: slaughter.
I am not insesnsitive, and like I said I love horses. It’s stupid people who breed horses with no clue to what they’re doing I despise. Now that my semi-rant is over (sorry), I do wish some laws are passed concerning the treatment of horses en route to and while they are awating slaughter. There is no reason these animals should not be treated humanely.
Another point, (especially with hoof and mouth happening, there are horses being stolen all over the US now) is the fact that your average American horse is being treated with medicines, supplements, and anti-pest sprays that contain ingredients that are possibly dangerous for human comsumption. My horse is vaccinated by the vet yearly, coated with fly-spray in the summer months, and I personally de-worm her every 8 weeks. On every tube of de-worming medicine I buy it says (big, bold letters) : NOT TO BE USED IN ANIMALS INTENDED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. There are even instructions to call a vet if your dog or cat accidently gets into a tube of de-wormer, I wonder how many of these treated-with-toxins horses are ending up on dinner plates?
Boscribo makes a valid point. There is far too much indiscriminant breeding going on by armature horse breeders. Even the people who should know what they are doing produce a fair number of unusable horses. When you add the back yard breeders to this the situation, while not out of control, is pretty distressing. I can count on two or three newspaper stories every winter about the animal rescue people finding five or ten or 20 or 30 starving horses. Inevitably the culprit is some small time breeder/dealer who could not sell his inadequate horses and didn’t see any profit in feeding them. The slaughter horse market is the safety valve for operations like this. In our grand parents’ time (great grand parents’?) the idea was to breed a horse that could be used for something. All too often the idea now is to produce a pet with no regard for the animal’s soundness.
The save the wild horses movement is no help in this. There is a reason these animals are wild (really feral). They are the product of unrestricted breeding by animals that were not worth chasing when they strayed off. Before anyone gets too wound up in the Spanish mustang myth they ought to go look at these poor, ewe necked, sag bellied nags. By and large they would be much more useful on a plate than in a stable. The reintroduction of these beasts into the domestic population does nothing to improve the breed and is all too often harmful.
There is some risk that this may turn into a rant.
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Why is this still here in GQ? This is so IMHO.
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