I have eaten horse meat.
As an ex vegetarian I think that if you are going to eat one animal, then why not another? We had horse steaks while visiting friends in the North of France 25 years ago. They did ask us if we minded first and as far as I remember I’d rather eat beef. When we first came to live in the village there was a horse butcher who came to the village on Saturday mornings and the local supermarkets sold horse meat too. Then a lot of people became ill after eating diseased meat. The problem being that in France people prefer their meat underdone. Someone is supposed to have calculated you could get 1000 portions from one horse (different cuts of meat, sausage, offal, black pudding and so on) Since those days the horse butcher stopped coming round and the local supermarkets stopped selling the meat too.
I though that the practise had died out… This afternoon I was shocked to read A Taste of Garlic which contains a link to a post about the way that some horses are treated. I’m not sure whether they are all bound for the abattoir or not. Do not follow the link from his site if you are easily upset.
I’d just like to point out that most French people are just as horrified at the ill treatment of animals as everyone else.
7 comments:
I've shocked a few people by admitting that I've eaten dog. I was in a country where it was not only a custom but a necessity.
Though I have no plans of doing so again anytime soon, I wouldn't refuse were the circumstances the same.
I've also hunted and killed my share of rabbits and squirrels; I've fished and kept the occasional fish as well. I've deer hunted, though passed on "my shot" that season as the deer was huge and I'd have had to "drag him out" through a swamp I wasn't sure of the ground in. I've eaten bear meat when in Vermont at my s-i-l's house (and enjoyed it completely).
Yet I'm appalled by "trophy" hunters or fisherman who catch their records off the spawning beds.
alan
In the spring of 1971, I spent 10 days in Paris on a class trip. We ate most of our meals at the dorm where we stayed. I recall a meat I couldn't identify, so I guessed that it might be horse. It was stewed like a pot roast, and I remember it being OK.
I'd rather ride horses though. And I hate any kind of cruelty to animals.
When I worked at Portsmouth ferryport in the early 80s, we used to get lorries of cattle passing through to France, and their conditions looked similar to what your link shows. Not seen anything like that recently, in UK at least.
A friend posted up photos of a guinea pig she ate in South America, and got some abusive comments from people who didn't apparently think it was right for South Americans to eat guinea pigs. Guess they should be protected by their Cute Critter status.
Dear Angie ~ As Fly in the Web says on the site.
"It’s not just horses…the whole meat industry from rearing to slaughter needs radical overhaul."
I eat meat but I hate the treatment some tradespeople must regard as normal.
People forget they are eating something that once lived and had emotion, in order to live themselves.
henry
Thank you all for your comments. We certainly do need to think about the conditions that a lot of animals live in in order to provide us with cheap food.
I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well.
quran online
Quran Online: Thank you
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