Would these Meat Scenarios Make You Upset?

Let’s say someone invites you to dinner, and says the main course will be something special, a new meat you’ve probably never had before. You’re thinking maybe ostrich or alligator or a take on the Impossible Burger, but it turns out to be a very lean steak. While you’re chewing, your host announces that you are eating horse meat.

Do you freak out?

I don’t think I would. A horse is a perfectly fine herbivore, and there is no reason to be squeamish about it. I would have no problem cleaning my plate.

There was a whole episode of All in the Family based on this. Everyone was terrified that Archie would find out what he was eating. He never did, as I recall.

Okay, another example, and instead of steaks, the meal is a sort of stew meat over rice. Your host announces as you chew that it is dog meat.

Do you freak out?

I think I would be a little stunned, but not horrified. I don’t know if I could finish the meal though. I would try, just to show how badass I could be.

I think I’d be fine with horse, but neigh to dogs.

Also, I’m not putting any mystery meat in my mouth until they tell me what it is.

Due to food allergies I eat nothing without a full disclosure.

That said - I kind of regret I didn’t get to try horse when I was in France, but the folks I was with knew that that is usually offensive to Americans and so did not offer, and by the time they found out I was curious it was too late to arrange it.

Dog… I don’t know. I mean, if it was life or death, eat dog or starve to death, sure, I’d eat dog, but as a novelty? Um… no.

If I found out after I was halfway done that I’d been lied to about what I was eating I’d be upset about that, but not what the meat actually was.

I’d be ok with either. I mean I’ve had beef tripe in Pho, no need to be scared of horse or dog meat.

I wouldn’t freak out, but waiting until you’ve taken a bite to go, “surprise, it’s dog!” would be a serious dick move and I probably wouldn’t accept another invitation to socialize.

Come to think of it, I’d have some serious questions about where they procured the meat in the first place. Especially the dog.

I’ve had horse meat before, and I liked it. I would be okay to try anything if I was told what it was beforehand, and would likely have sought it out anyway. Though like Mr. Bravo before me, I’d be disinclined to eat with people trying “surprise!” moves because I don’t need to hang out with ‘shock the normies’ sorts.

Dogs might be an exception. Not because they might be cute, but because carnivores don’t usually taste really good.

I’d say the host’s statement that we’d be having an unusual meat I would be unlikely to have tried before is fair warning that it might be something culturally taboo and I should ask more questions if I care about that sort of thing, so no, I wouldn’t freak out. If it turned out to be human meat, that would be upsetting, but short of that (or meat from an endangered species), I wouldn’t really have a problem with whatever I ended up getting if I accepted a dinner invitation phrased that way.

This is why I hate hypotheticals. Let’s say… that your host is being secretive about dinner. Let’s say… that you don’t wonder why that is. Let’s say… you don’t even think to say “Please tell me what this is before I eat it.” So let’s say… you have a friend who you’re close enough to that he invites you to dinner that he’s paying for, and indeed that he’s preparing for you. BUT let’s say… that even though you’re close, he doesn’t give a horse’s patoot about your feelings. So let’s say…he’s a sociopath. And even though he’s exhibited terrible behavior before, you’re not calling him on it… in fact you’re enabling his “emotionally pranking” of his supposed-friends.

So to answer your question, if this scenario happened, I’d have been upset by a dozen different facets of it before dinner ever happened.

Who pulls this kind of manipulative crap? Why am I so disappointed in this theoretical dinner host (and his passive guests who are enabling this).

Now, to play along with the OP, I’d be fine with eating horse if it tasted like a great cow steak…
…but only if I’d asked what it was and he told me beforehand.

Then I’d look forward to trying it (though I’d be giving my friend crap…whinnying, talking like Mr. Ed, and I’m sure I’d mention at some point that I was Triggered…)

Yeah, I guess I made the host look like a jerk.

That’s why I specified that you would have fair warning that it would be unusual meat. How about if the host would tell if asked beforehand what kind of meat it is?

No hesitation to try horse here though I’m not crazy about big slabs of meat. Horseburger or stirfry or something would be better.

I’ve had coyote before. Bowwow.

There’s a Belgian fast food chain, Bicky’s, that serves horse burger. It’s pretty lean so they doll it up with other meats, pork at least as I recall, to improve the texture.

It was okay. Not especially distinctive. I’d eat it again but I wouldn’t seek it out.

Yes, absolutely yes, it would make me upset and utterly gross me out.

As I mentioned elsewhere, while I’m in no way a vegetarian, I’m getting farther and farther away from being a regular meat-eater, especially red meats. I’m fine with chicken. But I have to be in the right sort of mood to enjoy even top-grade beef. Weirdo meats are right out, and as for eating creatures that are traditionally pets or work animals, I’d report the gracious host to the pertinent humane or animal cruelty society as well as public health authorities and would enjoy seeing him in jail.

Horse, I’d have no problem with: There’s not so much difference, practically speaking, between a horse and a cow.

But dog, no. The primary purpose for dogs in today’s world is to provide companionship to humans. Eating a companion animal, outside of dire necessity, is a no-go for me.

I’ve been looking for opportunities to try both

Dogs are friends, not food!

Pretty much. Horse wouldn’t faze me a bit, plenty of people eat horse including in western societies. It’s just another big grazing animal.

Dog would make me think the person was being an asshole edgelord playing games. I don’t necessarily find the idea inherently revolting - pigs are clever omnivores as well, they just make worse pets.

But I think you’d have to be almost a borderline sociopath to go to all the trouble involved in illegally obtaining a dog to eat in the United States. It’s one thing in cultures where it’s “normal” - I wouldn’t order it, but you do you. Doing it in an American context where it the opposite of normal would make you (generic you of course) pretty suspect in my eyes.

I’d freak out if it was albatross meat, because that could only mean I ate the flesh of my dead son back when I was shipwrecked on an island. But horse or dog wouldn’t freak me out. Especially if I knew in advance what it was.

I’d have a big fucking problem if this happened here in the US because neither of those meats have any sort of USDA levels of inspection and no way to ensure the meat was properly raised, free of parasites and from a proper production facility. That horse could be straight off the track and full of antibiotics or doped. The dog could be a stolen pet being given chemo drugs or full of steroids. They could have a myriad of parasites–dogs get tapeworms from fleas. So yeah, no thanks.

I would not eat the meat of a domesticated animal that is normally raised as a companion or pet in my experience. It’s not that it’s morally superior, it’s just how I look at things and my revulsion reflex. And I would be livid if someone tried to trick me into eating it. I would stop eating and and maybe leave. No horse, dog, cat, guinea pig.

I had a friend who was a vegetarian and was invited to dinner at a friend’s. After dinner she told him she had put chicken in the soup. She knew he was a vegetarian and wanted to see if he could tell.

I just find that sort of thing a breach of trust.

That happened to me once. The host told us he was serving chicken, but SURPRISE it was rabbit.

It didn’t taste like chicken, and I knew it wasn’t chicken before he said so. It tasted fine, and I’ve eaten rabbit since, but I thought it was a dick move at the time, and still do.

So… as for horse and dog…

I “collect” meats. That is, I try to eat new and unusual meats when I have the opportunity to do so. I’ve eaten alligator and crocodile, kangaroo and ostrich, three kinds of antelope, reindeer, warthog, venison, elk, and most common domestic meats.

The only meat I’ve turned down so far is whale. I had moral qualms about it. I don’t actually know how smart those whales they eat in Norway are. I don’t think they’re endangered. I might try it if I had a chance today.

I’ve eaten horse. It’s delicious. Similar to beef, but sweeter. I’ve had it in France and in Japan. I’d be shy of eating it in the US for the reasons SmartAleq mentions.

I wouldn’t eat dog in the US. Is that even legal? I’d be REALLY PISSED if someone fed me dog in the US without warning me in advance.

Would I try dog in Korea, or someplace where it’s a normal food? I dunno, maybe. I might get too much grief about it if I ever admitted to having done so. Like, my sister might never forgive me for that.

I wouldn’t eat human flesh, or any other primate, or elephant, unless the alternative was starvation. Heck, I’ve mostly stopped eating pork for ethical reasons.