Horse meat is the culinary name for meat cut from a horse. It is a major meat in only a few countries, notably in Central Asia, but it forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many others, from Europe to South America to Asia. The top eight countries consume about 4.7 million horses a year. For the majority of mankind's early existence, wild horses were hunted as a source of protein. It is slightly sweet, tender, low in fat and high in protein.
However, because of the role horses have played as companions and as workers, and concerns about the ethics of the horse slaughter process, it is a taboo food in some cultures. These historical associations, as well as ritual and religion, led to the development of the aversion to the consumption of horse meat. The horse is now given pet status by many in some parts of the Western world, particularly in the U.S.A. and U.K., which further solidifies the taboo on eating its meat. This avoidance and the loss of taste for it is relatively modern, although it arises out of complex historical and cultural origins.
History
In the late Paleolithic (
Magdalenian Era),
wild horses formed an important source of food. In many parts of Europe, the consumption of horse meat continued throughout the Middle Ages until modern times, despite a Papal ban of horse meat in 732. Horse meat was also eaten as part of
Germanic pagan religious ceremonies in
northern Europe, particularly ceremonies associated with the worship of
Odin.
Domesticated horses and cattle did not exist in the Americas until the Age of Discovery, and the Conquistadors owed much of their success to their war horses. The Europeans' horses became feral, and were hunted by the indigenous Pehuenche people of what is now Chile and Argentina. At first they hunted horses as they did other game, but later they began to raise them for meat and transport. The meat was, and still is, preserved by being sun-dried in the high Andes into a product known as ''charqui''.
France dates its taste for horse meat to the Revolution. With the fall of the aristocracy, its auxiliaries had to find new means of subsistence. Just as hairdressers and tailors set themselves up to serve commoners, the horses maintained by aristocracy as a sign of prestige ended up alleviating the hunger of lower classes. It was during the Napoleonic campaigns when the surgeon-in-chief of Napoleon's Grand Army, Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, advised the starving troops to eat the meat of horses. At the siege of Alexandria, the meat of young Arab horses relieved an epidemic of scurvy. At the battle of Eylau in 1807, Larrey served horse as soup and ''bœuf à la mode''. In Aspern-Essling (1809), cut from the supply lines, the cavalry used the horses' breastplates as cooking pots and gunpowder as seasoning, and thus founded a tradition.
Horse meat gained widespread acceptance in French cuisine during the later years of the Second French Empire. The high cost of living in Paris prevented many working-class citizens from buying meat such as pork or beef, so in 1866 the French government legalized the eating of horse meat and the first butcher's shop specializing in horse meat opened in eastern Paris, providing quality meat at lower prices. During the Siege of 1870-71, horse meat was eaten by anyone who could afford it, partly because of a shortage of fresh meat in the blockaded city, and also because horses were eating grain which was needed by the human populace. Many Parisians gained a taste for horse meat during the siege, and after the war ended, horse meat remained popular. Likewise, in other places and times of siege or starvation, horses are viewed as a food source of last resort.
Despite the general Anglophone taboo, horse and donkey meat was eaten in Britain, especially in Yorkshire, until the 1930s, and in times of post-war food shortage surged in popularity in the United States and was considered for use in hospitals. A 2007 ''Time'' magazine article about horse meat brought in from Canada to the United States characterized the meat as sweet, rich, superlean, oddly soft meat, and closer to beef than venison.
Taboo
Attitude of various cultures
Horse is commonly eaten in many countries in Europe and Asia. It is a
taboo food in
English-speaking countries such as the
United Kingdom,
Ireland, the
US,
English Canada and in
Australia; it is also taboo amongst the
Romani people and in
Brazil and
India. Horse meat is not generally eaten in
Spain, although the country exports horses both "on the hoof and on the hook" (i.e., live animals and slaughtered meat) for the French and Italian market. Horse meat is consumed in some
North American and
Latin American countries, and is illegal in some countries. In
Tonga, horse meat is eaten nationally, and Tongan emigrees living in the United States, New Zealand, and Australia have retained the taste for it, claiming Christian missionaries originally introduced it to them.
In many Muslim countries today, horse meat is considered ''makruh'', meaning it is not forbidden, but strongly discouraged. One reason given for its prohibition is the need for horses in military and other uses, and as such, considering the decline in use of horses for such purposes, some consider its consumption permissible. Horse meat is eaten in some Muslim Central Asian countries with a tradition of nomadic pastoralism, e.g., Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. In other majority-Muslim countries, there have been many instances, especially wars and famine, when horses were slaughtered and eaten. In the past, horse has been eaten by Persians, Turks, some hanafi Egyptians, and Tatars; but it has never been eaten in the Maghreb.
Horse meat is forbidden by Jewish dietary laws because horses do not have cloven hooves and they are not ruminants. It has been suggested that this holds a practical purpose as horses were used as a means of transportation and did work, although this is doubtful due to the lack of the horse collar at the time of the formation of these laws.
In the eighth century, Popes Gregory III and Zachary instructed Saint Boniface, missionary to the Germans, to forbid the eating of horse meat to those he converted, due to its association with Germanic pagan ceremonies. The people of Iceland allegedly expressed reluctance to embrace Christianity for some time, largely over the issue of giving up horse meat. In the end, the eating of horse meat was a concession granted in perpetuity when the pagan Norse Icelanders eventually adopted Christianity ''en masse'' in the year 1000 (although, in fact, the Church reversed its position soon afterwards). Horse meat is now currently consumed in Iceland and many horses are raised for this purpose. The culturally close people of Sweden still have an ambivalent attitude to horse meat, said to stem from this time.
Henry Mayhew describes the difference in the acceptability and use of the horse carcass in London and Paris in ''London Labour and the London Poor'' (1851). Horse meat was rejected by the British, but continued to be eaten in other European countries such as France and Germany, where knackers often sold horse carcasses underhand despite the Papal ban. Even the hunting of wild horses for meat continued in the area of Westphalia. Londoners also suspected that horse meat was finding its way into sausages, and that offal sold as that of oxen was in fact equine. About 1,000 horses were slaughtered a week.
Reasons for the taboo
In some countries, the effects of this prohibition by the
Roman Catholic Church have lingered and horse meat prejudices have progressed from
taboos, to avoidance, to abhorrence. In other parts of the world, horse meat has the
stigma of being something poor people eat and is seen as a cheap substitute for other meats, such as
pork and
beef.
According to the anthropologist Marvin Harris, some cultures class horse meat as taboo because the horse converts grass into meat less efficiently than ruminants. When breeding cattle for meat, a cow or a sheep will produce more meat than a horse if fed with the same amount of grass.
There is also an element of sentimentality, as horses have long enjoyed a close relationship with many humans, on a similar level to household pets – this can be seen projected in such Anglophone cultural icons such as ''Black Beauty'' and ''My Little Pony''. Compare with the anthropomorphic animals in ''Babe'', ''Charlotte's Web'', and Freddy the Pig.
Totemistic taboo is also a possible reason for refusal to eat horse meat as an everyday food, but did not necessarily preclude ritual slaughter and consumption. Roman sources state that the goddess Epona was widely worshipped in Gaul and southern Britain. Epona, a triple aspect goddess, was the protectress of the horse and horse keepers, and horses were sacrificed to her; she was paralleled by the Irish Macha and Welsh Rhiannon. The Uffington White Horse is probable evidence of ancient horse worship. The ancient Indian Brahmins engaged in horse sacrifice (Ashwamedh Yaghya) as recorded in the Vedas; but within context of the ritual sacrificial is not being 'killed' but instead being smothered to death. In 1913, the Finnic Mari people of the Volga region were observed to practice a horse sacrifice.
In ancient Scandinavia, the horse was very important, as a living, working creature, as a sign of the owner's status, and symbolically within the old Norse religion. Horses were slaughtered as a sacrifice to the gods and the meat was eaten by the people taking part in the religious feasts. When the Nordic countries were Christianized, eating horse meat was regarded as a sign of paganism and prohibited. A slight skepticism against eating horse meat is still common as a reminder of this in these countries even today.
It is notable that, despite horses having been bred in England since pre-Roman times, the English language has no widely used term for horse meat, as opposed to four for pig meat (pork, bacon, ham, gammon), three for sheep meat (lamb, hogget and mutton), two for cow meat (beef and veal), and so on. English speaking countries, however, have sometimes marketed horse meat under the euphemism "cheval meat" (''cheval'' being the French for horse). Also, note that the words pork, bacon, mutton, veal, and beef all derive from Anglo-Norman vocabulary, because of the class structure of England after the Norman Conquest in 1066 CE: the poor (Saxons) tended the animals, while the rich (French-speaking Normans) ate the meat. The peasants had very little to do with horses.
Production
In most countries where horses are slaughtered for food, they are processed in a similar fashion to cattle, i.e., in large-scale factory
slaughter houses (abattoirs) where they are
stunned with a
captive bolt gun and
bled to death. In countries with a less industrialized food production system, horses and other animals are slaughtered individually outdoors as needed, in the village where they will be consumed, or near to it.
In 2005, the eight principal horse meat producing countries produced over 700,000 tonnes of this product.
:{|class="wikitable sortable"
|+Major Horse meat Production Countries, {{nowrap|2005}}
! Country !! Animals !! Production in metric tons
|-
| China || 1,700,000 || 204,000
|-
| Mexico || 626,000 || 78,876
|-
| Kazakhstan || 340,000 || 55,100
|-
| Mongolia || 310,000 || 38,000
|-
| Argentina || 255,000 || 55,600
|-
| Italy || 213,000 || 48,000
|-
| Brazil || 162,000 || 21,200
|-
| Kyrgyzstan || 150,000 || 25,000
|- class="sortbottom"
| WorldwideTotals || 4,727,829 || 720,168
|}
In 2005, the 5 biggest horse meat-''consuming'' countries were China (421,000 tonnes), Mexico, Russia, Italy, and Kazakhstan (54,000 tonnes).
As horses are relatively poor converters of grass and grain to meat compared to cattle, they are not usually bred or raised specifically for their meat. Instead, horses are slaughtered when their monetary value as riding or work animals is low, but their owners can still make money selling them for horse meat, as for example in the routine export of the southern English ponies from the New Forest, Exmoor, and Dartmoor. British law requires the use of "equine passports" even for semi-wild horses to enable traceability (also known as "provenance"), so most slaughtering is done in the UK before the meat is exported, meaning that the animals travel "on the hook, not on the hoof" (as carcasses rather than live). Ex-racehorses, riding horses, and other horses sold at auction may also enter the food chain; sometimes these animals have been stolen or purchased under false pretenses. Even famous horses may end up in the slaughterhouse; the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner and 1987 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year winner, Ferdinand, is believed to have been slaughtered in Japan, probably for pet food.
There is a misconception that horses are slaughtered for pet food, however. In many countries, like the United States, horse meat was outlawed in pet food in the 1970s. American horse meat is considered a delicacy in Europe and Japan, and its cost is in line with veal, so it would be prohibitively expensive in many countries for pet food.
The British newspaper ''The Daily Mail'' reports that every year, 100,000 live horses are transported into and around the European Union for human consumption, mainly to Italy but also to France and Belgium.
Meat from horses that veterinarians have put down with a lethal injection is not consumed, as the toxin remains in the meat; the carcasses of such animals are cremated (all other means of disposal are problematic, due to the toxin).
Opposition to production
The killing of horses for human consumption is widely opposed in countries such as
USA and
Britain where horses are generally considered to be companion and sporting animals only. French actress and
animal rights activist
Brigitte Bardot has spent years crusading against the eating of horse meat. However, the opposition is far from unanimous; a 2007 readers' poll in the
London magazine ''
Time Out'' showed that 82% of respondents supported
celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's decision to serve horse meat in his restaurants (see further discussion
here).
Nutritional value
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|+Selected nutrients per 100 g (3.5 oz)
|-
!Food source
! Calories || Protein !! Fat !! Iron !! Sodium !! Cholesterol
|-
|Game meat, horse, raw
| 133 || 21 g || 5 g || 3.8 mg || 53 mg || 52 mg
|-
|Beef, sirloin, raw
| 140 || 21 g || 7 g || 1.7 mg || 53 mg || 42 mg
|}
Preparation
Horse meat has a slightly sweet taste reminiscent of a combination of beef and
venison. Meat from younger horses tends to be lighter in color while older horses produce richer color and flavor, as with most
mammals. Horse meat can be used to replace beef, pork, mutton, venison and any other meat in virtually any recipe, although the cooking time is shorter than that of beef or pork. Horse meat is usually very lean and tender. Jurisdictions which allow for the slaughter of horses for food rarely have age restrictions, so many are quite old. However, unlike many other types of meat, horse meat becomes more tender as the animal advances in age.
Those preparing sandwiches or cold meals with horse meat usually use it smoked and salted. Horse meat forms an ingredient in several traditional recipes of salami.
Horse meat in various countries
In 2009, a British agriculture industry website reported the following horse meat production levels in various countries:
{|class="wikitable"
|+as of 2009
|-
!Country !! Tons per year
|-
|Mexico || 78,000
|-
|Argentina || 57,000
|-
|Kazakhstan || 55,000
|-
|Mongolia || 38,000
|-
|Kyrgyzstan || 25,000
|-
|Australia || 24,000
|-
|Brazil || 21,000
|-
|Canada || 18,000
|-
|Poland || 18,000
|-
|Italy || 16,000*
|-
|Romania || 14,000
|-
|Chile || 10,000
|-
|France || 7,500
|-
|Uruguay || 8,000
|-
|Senegal || 9,500
|-
|Colombia || 6,000
|-
|Spain || 5,000*
|}
:* Including donkeys.
Asia-Pacific
Australia
Australians do not generally eat horse meat, although they have a horse slaughter industry that exports to Japan, Europe, and Russia. Horse meat exports peaked at 9,327 tons 1986, declining to 3,000 tons in 2003. The two abattoirs in Australia licensed to export horse meat are Belgian-owned. They are at Peterborough in South Australia (Metro Velda Pty Ltd) and Caboolture abattoir in Queensland (Meramist Pty Ltd). A British agriculture industry website reported that Australian horse meat production levels had risen to 24,000 tons by 2009.
On 30 June 2010, Agriculture Minister Terry Redman granted final approval to Western Australia butcher Vince Garreffa to sell horse meat for human consumption. Nedlands restaurateur Pierre Ichallalene announced plans to do a taster on Bastille Day and to put horse meat dishes on the menu if there's a good reaction. Mr. Redman said that the Government would "consider extending approvals should the public appetite for horse demand it".
Mr. Garreffa is the owner of Mondo Di Carne, a major wholesale meat supplier which supplies many cafes restaurants & hotels in Western Australia. He commented that there is no domestic market for horse meat, but there is a successful export market, which he believes Western Australia should have a share of.
By July 2, an online petition had been created to stop the sale of horse meat for human consumption in Western Australia. This decision has caused some outrage with a petition started to be signed to overturn this decision from the Department of Agriculture. However several local newspaper forums indicated that the general public were not greatly biased either way, in fact many voiced their openness for alternate meats.
China
Horse meat is not available in most parts of China, although it is generally acceptable to Chinese. Its lack of popularity is mostly due to its low availability and some rumors saying that horse meat tastes bad or it is bad for health, even
poisonous. In ''
Compendium of Materia Medica'', a
pharmaceutical text published in 1596,
Li Shizhen wrote "To relieve toxin caused by eating horse meat, one can drink
carrot juice and eat
almond." Today, in southern China, there are locally famous dishes such as Horse Meat
Rice Vermicelli (马肉米粉) in
Guilin. In the northwest,
Kazakhs eat horse meat (see
below). In Hebei province and Beijing, Donkey Sandwich (驴肉火烧) is a popular snack.Donkey Sandwich is made of stewed donkey meat in a baked Chinese bun. The two most popular versions of Donkey Burger originate from Hejian and Baoding in Hebei province.
Kazakhstan
In
Kazakhstan horse meat is a large part of the diet, due mainly to the nomadic roots of the population. Some of the dishes include sausages called ''kazy'' and ''shuzhuk'' made from the meat using the guts as the sausage skin, ''zhaya'' made from hip meat which is smoked and boiled, ''zhal'' made from neck fat which is smoked and boiled, ''karta'' made from a section of the rectum which is smoked and boiled, and ''sur-yet'' which is kept as dried meat.
Indonesia
In
Indonesia, one type of
satay (chunks of grilled meat served with spicy sauce) known as Horse Satay (
Javanese:''sate jaran'',
Indonesian:''sate kuda'') is made from horse meat. This delicacy from
Yogyakarta is served with sliced fresh
shallot (small red onion), pepper, and sweet soy sauce.
Japan
In
Japanese
cuisine, raw horse meat is called ''sakura'' (桜) or ''sakuraniku'' (桜肉, ''sakura'' means
cherry blossom, ''niku'' means meat) because of its pink color. It can be served raw as
sashimi in thin slices dipped in soy sauce, often with ginger and onions added. In this case, it is called ''basashi'' (). ''Basashi'' is popular in some regions of Japan and is often served at ''
izakaya''. Fat, typically from the neck, is also found as ''basashi'', though it is white, not pink. Horse meat is also sometimes found on menus for ''
yakiniku'' (a type of barbecue), where it is called ''baniku'' (馬肉, literally, "horse meat") or ''bagushi'' (馬串, "skewered horse"); thin slices of raw horse meat are sometimes served wrapped in a
shiso leaf.
Kumamoto,
Nagano and
Ōita are famous for ''basashi'', and it is common in the
Tohoku region as well. Some types of canned "corned meat" in Japan include horse as one of the ingredients. There is also a dessert made from horse meat called ''basashi'' ice cream. The company that makes it is known for its unusual ice cream flavors, many of which have limited popularity.
Mongolia
thumb|Packaged Mongolian horse meat
Mongolia, a nation famous for its nomadic pastures and equestrian skills, also includes horse meat on the menu. Mongolians also make a horse milk wine, called airag. Salted horse meat sausages called ''kazy'' are produced as a regional delicacy by the Kazakhs in
Bayan-Ölgii aimag. In modern times, Mongols prefer beef and mutton, though during the extremely cold Mongolian winter, many people prefer horse meat due to its low cholesterol. It is kept non-frozen and traditionally people think horse meat helps warms them up.
Other Asian nations import processed horse meat from Mongolia.
Tonga
In
Tonga, horsemeat or "lo'i ho'osi" is much more than a just a delicacy; the consumption of horsemeat is generally only reserved for special occasions. These special occasions may include the death of an important family member or community member or as a form of celebration during the birthday of an important family member or perhaps the visitation of someone important like the King of Tonga.
In Tonga, a horse is one of the most valuable animals a family can own because of its use as a beast of burden. Therefore the slaughter of one's horse for the purpose of consumption becomes a moment of immense homage to the person or event the horse was slain for. Despite a diaspora into Western countries like Australia, USA and New Zealand where consumption of horsemeat is generally tabooed, Tongans still practice the consumption of horse meat perhaps even more so because it is more readily available and more affordable.
Europe
Austria
Horse ''
Leberkäse'' is available and quite popular at various hot dog stands. Dumplings can also be prepared with horse meat, spinach or Tyrolean ''Graukäse'' (a sour milk cheese). They are occasionally eaten on their own, in a soup, or as a side-dish.
Belgium
In Belgium, horse meat (''paardenvlees'' in
Dutch and ''viande chevaline'' in French) is highly prized. It is used in
steak tartare, in which, compared to the beef equivalent, the richer flavor of the horse meat lends itself better to the pungent seasoning used in preparation. Besides being served raw, it can be broiled for a short period, producing a crusty exterior and a raw, moist interior. Smoked horse meat is very popular as breakfast and sandwich meat. Horse steaks are also very popular; the city of
Vilvoorde has a few restaurants specializing in this dish. Horse-sausage is a well known local specialty in
Lokeren with European recognition.
France
In France, specialized butcher shops (''boucheries chevalines'') sell horse meat, as ordinary butcher shops have been for a long time forbidden to deal in it. However, since the 1990s, it can be found in supermarket butcher shops and others.
Germany
In
Germany, horse meat is occasionally used in ''
Sauerbraten'', a strongly marinated type of sweet-sour braised meat dish. Other traditional horse meat dishes include the
Bavarian ''Rosswurst'' (horse sausage). In recent times, the eating of horse meat has become a controversial issue and beef is nowadays often substituted for the horse meat in Sauerbraten. However, horse meat, sold by specialized ''Pferdemetzgereien'' (horse butcheries), is still occasionally used for steaks, roasts and goulash by many people in all parts of Germany, since it is supposed to be healthier than beef and pork while being cheaper than venison. It is however far from a common supermarket item. Especially cat and dog breeders and owners value horse meat as a lean and healthy pet food.
Hungary
In
Hungary, horse meat is only used in salami and sausages, usually mixed with
pork. These products are sold in most supermarkets and many butcher shops and are not very popular.
Iceland
In
Iceland, it is both eaten minced and as steak, also used in
stews and
fondue, prized for its strong flavor. It has a particular role in the culture and history of the island, as its consumption was one of the concessions won when the pagan Norse
Icelanders eventually
adopted Christianity in the year 1000.
Italy
thumb|right|[[Venice|Venetian horse meat
butcher]]
Italian cuisine is highly regional: thus, horse meat is popular e.g. in
Veneto,
Friuli-Venezia Giulia and
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, or in
Sardinia; while it not very popular in most part of Italy, used just by a few consumers or even seen as a bad thing (like eating a pet). Horse meat is used in a stew called ''pastissada'' (typical of
Verona), served as horse or colt steaks, as
carpaccio, or made into
bresaola. Horse fat is used in recipes such as ''
pezzetti di cavallo''. In the region of
Veneto a dish is prepared which consists of shredded, cured horse meat on a bed of
arugula, dressed with olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Also in Veneto, horse meat sausages called ''salsiccia di equino'' or salami; and thin strips of horse meat called ''sfilacci'' are sold (a popular local pizza is made with ''sfilacci'' on it). In Veneto a smaller horse steak is typical and often called, with a
Venetian name, ''straeca''. In Sardinia
sa pezz'e cuaddu is one of the most renowned meats and is sold in typical kiosks with bread
panino con carne di cavallo. Chefs and consumers tend to prize its uniqueness by serving it as rare as possible.
Donkey is also cooked, for example as a pasta sauce called ''stracotto d'asino''. According to British food writer
Matthew Fort, "The taste for donkey and horse goes back to the days when these animals were part of everyday agricultural life. In the frugal, unsentimental manner of agricultural communities, all the animals were looked on as a source of protein. Waste was not an option."
Luxembourg
Horse meat is commonly found on menus in Luxembourg.
Malta
In
Malta, stallion meat () is usually fried or baked in a white wine sauce. A few horse meat shops still exist and it is still served in some restaurants.
Netherlands
thumb|Horse meat from the NetherlandsIn the
Netherlands, smoked horse meat (''paardenrookvlees'') is sold as sliced meat and eaten on bread. There are also beef-based variants. Horse meat is also used in sausages (''paardenworst'' and
frikandel), fried fast food snacks and ready-to-eat soups.
Norway
In Norway, horse meat is commonly used in cured meats, such as vossakorv and svartpølse, and less commonly as steak, hestebiff.
In pre-Christian Norway, horse was seen as an expensive animal. To eat a horse was to show that you had great wealth, and to sacrifice a horse to the gods was seen as the greatest gift you could give. When Norwegians adopted Christianity, horse-eating became taboo as it was a religious act for pagans, and thus it was considered a sign of heresy.
Poland
Horse meat is used in production of ''
kabanos'', but it has recently been declining in popularity. Live, old horses are often being exported to Italy to be slaughtered. This practice also garners controversy. Horses in Poland are treated mostly as companions and the majority of society is against the live export to Italy. You can find some shelters for old and unwanted horses that are rescued from slaughter, The Tara Rescue and The Animals of Eulalia Faundation.
Serbia
Horse meat is generally available in
Serbia, though mostly shunned in traditional cuisine. It is, however, often recommended by General Practitioners to persons who suffer from anoemia. It is available to buy at three green markets in
Belgrade, a market in
Niš, and in several cities in ethnically mixed
Vojvodina, where
Hungarian and previously
German traditions brought the usage.
Slovenia
Horse meat is generally available in
Slovenia, and is highly popular in the traditional cuisine, especially in the central region of
Carniola and in the
Kras region. Colt steak (''žrebičkov zrezek'') is available in some restaurants and there is a popular fast-food restaurant in
Ljubljana called Hot-Horse that serves hamburgers made of horse meat.
Sweden
Smoked/cured horse meat is widely available as a
cold cut under the name ''hamburgerkött'' (hamburger meat). It tends to be very thinly sliced and fairly salty, slightly reminiscent of deli-style ham. ''Gustafskorv'', a smoked sausage made from horse meat, is also quite popular, especially in the province of Dalarna, where it's made. It is similar to
salami or
medwurst and is used as an alternative to them on sandwiches. It is also possible to order horse beef from some well-stocked grocery stores.
Switzerland
The ordinance on foodstuffs of animal origin in
Switzerland explicitly list
equines as an animal species allowed for the production of food. Horse steak is quite common, especially in the French-speaking west, but also more and more in the German-speaking part. A speciality known as ''mostbröckli'' is made with beef or horse meat. Horse meat is also used for a great range of sausages in the German-speaking north of Switzerland. Like in northern Italy, in the Italian-speaking South, local "salametti" (sausages) are sometimes made with horse meat. Horse meat may also be used in
Fondue Bourguignonne.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the slaughter, preparation and consumption of horses for food is not against the law, although in practice it has been out of fashion since the 1930s and there is a strong taboo against it. It was eaten when other meats were scarce, such as during times of war (as was
whale meat, never popular and now also taboo). The sale of horse meat in supermarkets and butchers is minimal, and most of the horse meat consumed in the UK is imported from Europe, predominantly the
South of France, where it is more widely available.
Horse meat may be consumed inadvertently. A
2003 Food Standards Agency investigation revealed that
salami and similar products such as
chorizo and
pastrami sometimes contain horse meat without this ingredient being listed. Listing is legally required.
Ukraine
In Ukraine, especially in Crimea and other southern steppe regions, horse meat is consumed in the form of sausages called Mahan and Sudzhuk. These particular sausages are traditional food of the
Crimean Tatar population.
North America
Canada
Agriculture in
Quebec seems to prosper under the prohibitions from the United States. There is a thriving horse meat business in
Quebec; the meat is available in most supermarket chains. Horse meat is also for sale at the other end of the country, in
Granville Island Market in
downtown Vancouver where, according to a
''Time'' magazine reviewer who smuggled it into the United States, it turned out to be a "sweet, rich, superlean, oddly soft meat, closer to beef than venison". Horse meat is also available in high end
Toronto butchers and supermarkets. Aside from the heritage of French cuisine at one end of the country and the adventurous
foodies of Vancouver at the other, however, the majority of
Canada shares the horse meat taboo with the rest of the
Anglosphere. This mentality is especially evident in
Alberta, where strong
horse racing and breeding industries and cultures have existed since the province's founding.
United States
Horse meat is rarely eaten in the United States. Horses are raised instead as pets, for working purposes (Farming, police work, and ranching), or for sport. Horse meat holds a very similar taboo in American culture, the same as the one found in the United Kingdom previously described, except that it is rarely even imported.
Restriction of human consumption of horse meat in the U.S. has generally involved legislation at the state and local levels. In 1915, for example, the New York City Board of Health amended the sanitary code, making it legal to sell horse meat. During World War II, due to the low supply and high price of beef, New Jersey legalized its sale, but at war's end, the state again prohibited the sale of horse meat.
In 1951, ''Time'' magazine reported from Portland, OR: "Horsemeat, hitherto eaten as a stunt or only as a last resort, was becoming an important item on Portland tables. Now there were three times as many horse butchers, selling three times as much meat." Noting that "people who used to pretend it was for the dog now came right out and said it was going on the table," and providing tips for cooking pot roast of horse and equine fillets. A similar situation unfolded in 1973, when inflation raised the cost of traditional meats. ''Time'' reported that "Carlson's, a butcher shop in Westbrook, CT that recently converted to horse meat exclusively, now sells about 6,000 pounds of the stuff a day." The shop produced a 28-page guide called "Carlson's Horsemeat Cook Book" with recipes for chili con carne, German meatballs, beery horsemeat, and more.
Harvard University's Faculty Club had horse meat on the menu for over one hundred years, until 1985.
California Proposition 6 (1998) was passed by state voters, outlawing the consumption of horse meat in California and barring slaughter of horses for human consumption.
Until 2007, a few horse meat slaughterhouses still existed in the United States, selling meat to zoos to feed their carnivores, and exporting it for human consumption, but the last one, Cavel International in Dekalb, Illinois, was closed by court order in 2007. The closure reportedly caused a surplus of horses in Illinois.
Mexico
As of 2005, Mexico was the second largest producer of horse meat in the world. It is used there both for human consumption and animal food.
South America
Chile
In
Chile, it is used in ''
charqui''. Both in
Chile, horse meat was the main source of nutrition for the nomadic indigenous tribes, which promptly switched from a
guanaco-based economy to a horse-based one when the horses brought by the Spaniards bred naturally and became feral. This applies specially for the
Pampa and
Mapuche nations, who become fierce warriors on horseback. Pretty much like the
Tatars, they ate raw horse meat and milked their animals.
See also
Taboo food and drink
Horse slaughter
Repugnant market
''Blood of the Beasts'' (''Le Sang des bêtes''), a 1949 documentary film
List of meat animals
People
Carl C. Rasmussen, Los Angeles City Council member, proposed adding charcoal to horse meat to make it inedible by humans
References
External links
(quoting a 1997 USDA report said to be no longer available online)
La Viande Chevaline, a web site made by the French Horse Meat Industry structure, called ''Interbev Equins'' (French)
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