A Horse Is a Fine Second Course, Of Course

One clear memory of my childhood in Holland is being sent to the butcher's by my Mom to buy smoked horse meat, so thinly sliced you could almost see through it. My mother ate it on a piece of buttered bread and considered it a delicacy; I myself could take it or leave it. Many years later I found that eating horse meat is considered quite outré in Anglosaxon cultures; the reaction you'll get when you consume dead horse is likely to be similar to that of a one-time girlfriend who freaked out when I ordered perro caliente in a dumpy-looking eatery in rural Mexico. (Perro caliente = hot dog — but of the sausage variety, I explained; no cause for alarm.)

Not that I wouldn't eat dog, or horse — or kangaroo, which I enjoyed in a waterfront steak place in Sydney last year. As long as you believe in humankind's dominion over our planet, as most meat-eaters surely do, I don't really see why it's fine to eat one kind of animal but a moral outrage to eat another. (Endangered species might deserve an exemption here, although I'm told that spotted owls are quite tasty).

Out with it: Why is it OK, almost patriotic in fact, to grill a hundred million pieces of ground-up cow on a day like the Fourth of July — but an act of barbarism to cook a few juicy horse steaks? Do horses simply enjoy better PR (Pegasus, Black Beauty, Buttermilk, Seabiscuit) than cows?

The topic is on my mind because I just read about a New Zealand restaurant that's begun offering a chargrilled horsemeat dish called "Mr. Ed is Dead." The abuse flew fast and furious.

Restaurant owner David Kerr said Wednesday that he received lots of complaints and abusive phone calls after he started serving horse steaks at his eatery in Hamilton, North Island, as part of an annual event during which restaurateurs compete to offer the best out-of-the-ordinary culinary delights to diners. The calls were "pretty lively and disgusting and not comforting for the staff," Kerr said, adding that "there was swearing, cursing, horrible language."

If you don't want to eat horse meat, don't visit Kerr's restaurant (or go and order the mutton instead, which is typically mouthwateringly tender in New Zealand). If you do have a hankerin' for horse, well, there's no law that says you can't — only a bunch of exceedingly rude holier-than-thou busybodies who screech you shouldn't. Puzzling.

Anyone care to shed some light on the whys and wherefores of the horse-meat taboo?

Comments

[Grinna]

G'day Rogier, Grinna 'ere from Sydney, Oz. I 'ope you tried Aussie beer whilst in Sydney! Re the horse taboo I believe it is because Anglos only eat animals that they can have sex with and a horse is too tall. Thus you also never hear of giraffe or elephant bestiality. Don't bother about whales-you can climb inside!!!

[Martin Owens]

I can sympathize that you identify with the circumstances of your upbringing, and it would be unreasonable and highly insulting to expect you to apologize for your mother's taste.

But the fact remains that the horse has mystical properties in many cultures, ours not least. The Plains Indians had a saying that you could lie to your friends and family, but you must never lie to your horse, for the warrior and his horse travel together on the road to heaven. In fact I believe it was the famous Sioux warrior Black Elk who once remarked that the Indians could almost forgive the whites all the harm they did to the natives, because the whites brought the horse to America.

Likewise, the idea of chivalry comes from the French chevalier, horseman, and without the cheval (horse) where is he?

So you see, there are many men ( and women) who look to the horse for elevation and increase of power, not merely physical but psychic and spiritual, too. It was horses that took King Arthur , El Cid, Richard the Lionheart, Saladin and Joan of Arc into battle to fight for the right, and that affection lingers for anyone who has ever cheered on his favorite at the races. What boomer doesn't remember Secretariat? Or the Budweiser Clydesdales? There was Man o' War and Seabiscuit for the Greatest Generation. And before that was Comanche, the horse of General Custer, who was the only survivor at Little Big Horn, and Traveler, the faithful mount of Robert E Lee. We remember Dan Patch, the founder of the trotting horses, Justin Morgan's horse, and the Godolphin Arabian that founded the line of Thoroughbreds. What made the Hun and the Mongol, the Scythian, Turk and Plains Tribesman terrible, except their mastery of horsemanship? Likewise Alexander rode to glory on Bucephalas. Odin was carried by Sleipner, the magic steed with eight legs, and Apollo the sun God spread his light from a horsedrawn celestial chariot. For that matter, it was in the back of a horse chariot that the Hindu god Krishna enlightened his great devotee Arjuna. The story of the horse and the story of man have been intertwined for ten thousand years at least, in reality, in myth, in song, story and aspiration.

Add to that the attraction that little girls have for horses, and you can see that anyone who advocates the eating of horseflesh, except in actual desperate famine conditions, is seen by many to be as bad as a cannibal. Blowing up Bambi won't get you half the bad press.

As for me personally, I am a thorughbred trainer's son. On the race track we take a broad and tolerant view of the human condition. But there is a limit. When I was growing up I was taught that the only hopeless road to damnation, was to deliberately abuse a horse.

But hey, this is a free country. You can buy horsemeat from anyone who will sell it to you legally, ( or illegally for that matter) and you can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you've a mind. But you also must realize that other people who admire and revere horses ( with varying degrees of reasonableness) are entitled to abominate your tastes, and hold the opinion that you are forgotten of God for indulging them.

I will defend your right to indulge your tastes, but just in case, I ain't standing next to you.

[Elliott]

I think the short answer is that most western cultures consider horses, dogs and cats to be pets. Therefore, we don't eat them.

[Andrew Kvochick]

I'm not sure about the mystical properties thing. I think the pets idea is on the right track. To me, it seems that cats, dogs, and horses are far more intelligent than cows, chickens, etc. Thus, people see an opportunity for companionship. And eating something that could potentially share some sort of "meaningful" relationship with you is about one step away from eating a person. I'm not endorsing either way, but I hope you see what I'm trying to say.

[Rogier]

Thanks, all, for weighing in. I wonder if there's a class phenomenon at work here. Elliott says horses are considered pets. Sure, I guess -- but to whom? Traditionally, only to the wealthy and well-to-do. To working-class folks like my parents, horses were work animals. They deserved to be treated with care and kindness, but at the end of the day, horses were utilitarian animals, there to pull a cart or plow the land, not to pamper or as the vehicle of Preakness aspirations. That meant they could be eaten too, when the time came, without sentimentality.

Martin rightfully points to all the imagery and myths that underline the supposed nobility of horses. Got it, good point, but the same reservation applies. If you're not a member of the knights/warriors class but a rural laborer or farmer with barely two nickels to rub together, such myths would be irrelevant to you, and you wouldn't consider horses noble per se; you'd probably consider them as good muscle during their lifetime and good meat thereafter.

I confess to having little or no compunction about eating any animal. If I were in an Asian country where dog was on the menu and my host assured me it was a great-tasting dish, I'd order without qualms. And I say that as the owner of two big, affectionate, well-pampered dogs.

[Elliott]

Perhaps I should have qualified my comment about horses as pets with the fact that I live in Texas. :-)

[mare]

Actually pigs are far more intelligent than horses, cows and dogs.

Still people have no problem eating them.

I personally don't have hang-ups about eating things. I ate insects, snakes and dog meat (that's meat of dogs, not for dogs). And horse meat too, although it's hard to get nowadays. I now only eat meat of animals that had a good life and a not so horrible death. I'd eat the meat of my own pets , but since they're very small dogs there is no point doing so.

[Elliott]

I think it's just one of those socio/cultural things that defies rational explanation.

[Grinna]

I can only recommend the link below regards "The Decadent Cookbook". This is a hilarious compenium of recipes of endangered or taboo animals. I, of course, have a copy:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1873982224/026-7306822-4647616

[John Palubiski]

If you eat "La Viande Chevaline", you should only do so sparingly.

I work as an auditor/inspector with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and know a thing or two about animal pathologies.

There are two problemes with horsemeat; too much myoglobin and the possibility that the meat may be infected with the parasite Trichinella Spiralis.

Myoglobin when consummed in large quantities can cause serious health problemes. Trichinella Spiralis parasites can lodge themselves in human muscle tissue, such as the diaphram, and can cause serious bouts of pain

Nionetheless, I have eaten horsemeat on occasion, but never much liked the taste.

[davaa togoobor]

horse meat myoglobin

[disgustedbyyou]

Anybody that would eat a horse has an evil nature. Its a shame that people are so cold hearted. Its sickening that people are actually defending killing and eating horses.
Sick jerks...

[Chris hart Lexington, Kentucky]

Your all silly billy's.