# So why don't we Yanks eat horses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222 "2009-08-30T02:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/21 "2009-08-30T13:06:17Z")
Horse meat is not very common in Norway, except in so-called black sausage. If a grocery store has more than a handful of sandwich meats, it will have pre-sliced, vacuum packed black sausage. Many girls (and boys, but they’re not affected as much) usually learn about the ingredients of black sausage in junior high. “Hey, do you know what you’re eating?” ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/22 "2009-08-30T13:17:59Z")
Are you talking about horses being raised for their meat, or eating horses that had other occupations until they got lame and were deemed unworthy for that job? I’m not sure about the first one, but I know many, if not most, of the horses in the US right now are not raised as food animals, they’re raised as pets/working horses (races). This means they get access to treatment and meds that are off-limits to other food animals. While I wouldn’t mind eating a farm horse, or a horse that hasn’t received a lof of current equine meds, I would be wary of eating something that has been taking drugs whose bioavailability in the meat has not been studied, including drugs that are known to be toxic to humans. That was my vet mind speaking ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/23 "2009-08-30T14:24:44Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > This is also true of France, which I take it is the largest consumer of horse meat. I mean, the words “cavalier” and “cavalry” come from France; the French have had a culture of horsemanship since time immemorial, and that sure as hell didn’t stop them from eating horses. It is news to me that the France is particularly associated with horsemanship. Lots of words came into English from French, I don’t think that proves anything. The word “horse” itself is Nordic/Germanic. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/24 "2009-08-30T15:06:47Z")
I have had horse meat on a couple of occasions and found it delicous. It is a very lean meat and is best when cooked rare. It is good for stews too. Horse meat from a race horse would be tough, raise a horse like a cow and it would be just as tender. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/25 "2009-08-30T16:09:53Z")
I’m sure it comes from the way that Americans tend to romanticize animals. Most Americans could never imagine eating dog, either. People in other parts of the world see a big, muscular piece of livestock; we see the friendly, intelligent beast that carried Roy Rogers on his adventures and inspired _My Friend Flicka_. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/26 "2009-08-30T16:13:03Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I think that the cultures that used horses the most were also the ones who ate them the most - the Magyars, the Tatars and other Central Asian nomads, and possibly the French. > > The English, OTOH, were never great horsemen - not in the middle ages, and not subsequently. That’s probably why eating horses was never a part of English culture, and the attitude came with them to the Americas. By the time immigrants from horse-eating cultures arrived, majority American culture had already decided that it Just Wasn’t Done. > > Did the Plains Indians eat horses? Eh? The English never great horsemen? “Into the valley of death rode the 600” - Cardigan was plainly an idiot, but there was nothing wrong with their horsemanship. At least by the time when the “Sun never set on the British Empire” the British military put a great deal of emphasis on their cavalry regiments, and probably long before then. And the aristocratic classes had horsemanship ingrained into their culture - fox hunts, steeplechases, etc. That latter point may be at the root of the English aversion to using the horse as a meat animal. Apart from the horse as a working animal, you had the privileged classes seeing horsey stuff as emblem of their status, and the evolution of the horse into a sort of pet. When you consider the Plains Indians, remember that they didn’t have horses until the Spanish brought them over, which happened in 1540, but the various Plains tribes didn’t generally make use of them until the 17th and 18th centuries. Whether they also ate them or not, the place of the horse in their culture was not a long standing tradition - it was a revolution. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/27 "2009-08-30T16:22:33Z")
Great answer to this question in Frederick Simoons’s _Eat Not This Flesh_. Summarizing: Ancient Indo-Europeans and most of their descendent cultures happily ate horseflesh, though they regarded horses very highly. Horse sacrifices were big-deal rituals. Oddly, Ancient Rome was something of an exception. Except for the October Equus race / sacrifice to Mars, they didn’t much eat horses. The early church in Rome, conveniently not in the habit of eating horses, found it both disgusting and pagan and tried to stamp out the practice. Some places (like Iceland) resisted. Some places more or less went along, and it became poor people’s food: if you had nothing else, you’d eat horse. That’s a powerful stigma. It was only in the 19th century that the sale of horsemeat became legal in France (1866) and Germany. There was something of a marketing campaign that helped bring it about. There was a similar campaign in England but it was short-lived. He says in the U.S. “horsemeat sold in the United States is subject to federal inspection; it is nutritious, low in fat, and reasonable in price; and some people do buy and consume it. One even reads of a horsemeat shop in Connecticut so successful that fifteen franchises were set up in New England and New York, with four to five thousand pounds of horsemeat in various forms being marketed on daily basis.” He then goes on about the prejudice against horsemeat in most of the U.S. and how our culture is exerting subtle pressure on others to avoid it. ETA: If the Connecticut shop info. was correct, it seems to have been long out of business, and the sale of horseflesh looks like it’s illegal in that state. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/28 "2009-08-30T16:34:47Z")
AIUI, horses were seldom raised for food or leather\* in the US. Those slaughtered were typically farm animals too old or injured to work. \*Horsehide used to be a _much_ bigger volume commodity than horsemeat. When we farmed with horses, it was the utility leather for many goods: baseballs and gloves are best known, but it was also commonly used for apparel such as motorcycle and flight jackets. By the 1950s it was replaced in almost all applications by cowhide, which is almost as durable. Horse is now an expensive specialty leather. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/29 "2009-08-30T17:04:30Z")
The idea of eating horse meat is repulsive to me simply because horses are big, ugly, sinewy beasts. They look hard and athletic, and I imagine their meat to be chewy and not particularly pleasant. A bit like venison, from a similarly lean animal, which I have tried and really didn’t like. Give me soft, docile cows or pigs any time. They do absolutely no exercise at all, and as a result, their meat is tasty and tender. If you could breed a type of layabout horse that did nothing much except eat a lot of hay, then yeah, I’d look into it. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/30 "2009-08-30T17:09:42Z")
The big advantage in buying horse instead of goat is that the horse can give you a ride home from the market. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/31 "2009-08-30T17:10:24Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Eh? The English never great horsemen? “Into the valley of death rode the 600” - Cardigan was plainly an idiot, but there was nothing wrong with their horsemanship. At least by the time when the “Sun never set on the British Empire” the British military put a great deal of emphasis on their cavalry regiments, and probably long before then. > > And the aristocratic classes had horsemanship ingrained into their culture - fox hunts, steeplechases, etc. That latter point may be at the root of the English aversion to using the horse as a meat animal. Apart from the horse as a working animal, you had the privileged classes seeing horsey stuff as emblem of their status, and the evolution of the horse into a sort of pet. British cavalry was very good at blowing its own horn, but it was largely acknowleged to be among the worse in Europe. From Harold’s huscarls to Henry’s V’s longbowmen to Wellington’s lobsterbacks, it was infantry that was always Britain’s strength, not cavalry. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/32 "2009-08-30T17:23:41Z")
From _All In The Family_ Gloria) But Ma, lots of people eat horse Edith) But Gloria, a horse? The _ **QUEEN** _ rides a horse 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/33 "2009-08-30T17:30:31Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Eh? The English never great horsemen? “Into the valley of death rode the 600” - Cardigan was plainly an idiot, but there was nothing wrong with their horsemanship. At least by the time when the “Sun never set on the British Empire” the British military put a great deal of emphasis on their cavalry regiments, and probably long before then. > > And the aristocratic classes had horsemanship ingrained into their culture - fox hunts, steeplechases, etc. That latter point may be at the root of the English aversion to using the horse as a meat animal. Apart from the horse as a working animal, you had the privileged classes seeing horsey stuff as emblem of their status, and the evolution of the horse into a sort of pet. > > When you consider the Plains Indians, remember that they didn’t have horses until the Spanish brought them over, which happened in 1540, but the various Plains tribes didn’t generally make use of them until the 17th and 18th centuries. Whether they also ate them or not, the place of the horse in their culture was not a long standing tradition - it was a revolution. Sorry, but no- English armies were never well known for their cavalry being a particularly large or effective part of their armies, at least in comparison to their contemporary peers (other European powers). Cultures with longstanding traditions of horsemanship _in the lower classes_ like the Magyars, the Huns, and the Mongols are noted for their horsemanship in war, not cultures where only the nobility could ride. I’m with **Alessan** on this one. And Cortez brought horses over to the mainland of the New World in 1519, I do believe, when he invaded Mexico. It’s possible that no horses escaped into the wild until 1540, but I doubt it took that long. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/34 "2009-08-30T17:31:46Z")
In Argentina you can find horse meat in mortadelaa (like ham but from horse). I don’t like it that much. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/35 "2009-08-30T18:12:13Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Great answer to this question in Frederick Simoons’s _Eat Not This Flesh_. > > Summarizing: Ancient Indo-Europeans and most of their descendent cultures happily ate horseflesh, though they regarded horses very highly. Horse sacrifices were big-deal rituals. Oddly, Ancient Rome was something of an exception. Except for the October Equus race / sacrifice to Mars, they didn’t much eat horses. The early church in Rome, conveniently not in the habit of eating horses, found it both disgusting and pagan and tried to stamp out the practice.. And the Romans were \*awful \*horsemen. In what other society would a class of people be known for the fact that they (and only they) rode horses? ---
**Author:** ![Magicicada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@Magicicada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magicicada)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/36 "2009-08-30T22:32:05Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > From _All In The Family_ > > Gloria) But Ma, lots of people eat horse > > Edith) But Gloria, a horse? The _ **QUEEN** _ rides a horse > 🙂 I was trying to remember how this quote went! Thank you to all who took time to ponder this issue and respond. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/37 "2009-08-30T22:38:32Z")
> [@sweetie pea](#): > > I was trying to remember how this quote went! The first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was that episode. Only the bit I was trying to remember was when Archie just takes a bite of steak (Or is about to? Or maybe he and Michael are just debating?) and Michael whinnies. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/38 "2009-08-30T22:46:51Z")
> [@sweetie pea](#): > > Not that I particularly want to, but the thread discussing the fate of battlefield horses got me to wondering about the issue. I vaguely recall hearing once that Americans find the idea repugnant because of the strong association we make between horses and the winning of the west. This would sort of imply that eating horsemeat is unpatriotic, but up until about the 1970’s, we were still feeding it to our dogs. I find it tasty, and would not mind having it more available. It is because it isn’t a ‘traditional food animal’. Anything that isn’t traditional is immediately yucky and taboo. You would not believe the thoughts expressed when I used to take in stewed heart for lunch … a few hispanics born out of the country were not bothered but everybody else was horrified. All it was was either pork or duck heart depending on what I managed to score in the grocery. When they brought in tripe, the anglos still had hissy fits at being subjected to organ meats…they would probably have shit bricks and bitched to HR if I had the temerity to bring in horse… ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/39 "2009-08-30T22:48:23Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > I take it horse meat is not a tender meat. Who wants tough meat? Not true, I could serve you part of the tenderloin of a horse and you would think it an amazing cut of beef if I used a sauce on it that masked the sweetness of the meat. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222/40 "2009-08-30T23:58:15Z")
if you are going to eat horse make sure it is well cooked. Hundreds of people in france have caught trichinosis over the years through uncooked horse. However, in general horse is probably less disease ridden than most domesticated meat we eat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-why-dont-we-yanks-eat-horses/508222.md?page=3)