Horsemeat is also lean and unmarbled, and tender even from an older horse…” But despite the taste and health benefits, we just don’t eat horse.But Italians sure do. It’s not as widespread as a hundred years ago, but horsemeat is still eaten in many parts of Italy, and is certainly available all over the peninsula. And last night, some brave Pantheon Institute tried it. Six bold students (and their bold professor, Connecticut College’s Ann Devlin) had a whole dinner of salad and horsemeat cooked a cast-iron skillet, and another eight students tried a piece (in some cases, more than one piece). It was a huge cultural leap, leaving cultural taboos back home and trying something radically different, even just once. This is of course, is exactly why one travels, and it’s one of the Pantheon Institute’s goals for students studying abroad!
Why indeed don't we eat horsemeat. It is the best meat I have eaten. I do a lot of physical work on the land and I find that horsemeat gives strength like no other meat. I believe it has a high iron content and that it is particularly good for pregnant women.
ReplyDeleteIt is a terrible waste that our horses are not eaten. It is also very cruel on the animals and inhumane. I often see horses coated in fields and I know how cruel this is. The straps chafe and the coats are left on after the cold snaps and even in spring sunshine.
It is also cruel not to end an animals life in the field and on the land it loves. Horses have a very intimate relationship with their fields and should not be taken away from them or sold to second users or to sanctuaries. They should be killed humanely and the meat used for human or pet consumption. Nobody will care for an animal as the person who raised it and who used it or kept it for years.
I find the ignorance of this illogical taboo about horsemeat similar to that of the cow in India but with less reason quite staggering and I can find no justification atall for treating horses any differently from other farm ani,mals. Any animal will tame when handled and the horse does exactly that. The handler takes the place of the dominant in the group and the horse seeks to please the dominant to know its place in the natural order of the group. This is a common trait of all animals.
Cruel is to forget that. Cruel is to treat an animal in any way except as his or her dominant and thus confuse the animal. Cruel is to leave an animal on its own without even a surrogate group. Cruel is to let an animal grow old and suffer when it should have been converted into meat.