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1. 

   beau-jolly
   

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   Thought I'd bring the "I could eat a horse" converation in here.
   

   Surely horse meat is just as expensive as beef?

   
   I am guessing that horses are killed when they are knackered. In the UK they would be buried or burnt, (not sure if they still render tham down at knackers yards). Makes sense to eat them. I think our squeemishness is because nowadays they are bred for recreation not work. I'll be in France later this year and will be straight down the boucherie chevaline's.

   Vegetarians have argued that its a small step to canabalism. The reason canabalism is taboo is that there is a small step from eating a dead body to precipitating a premature death when you are peckish. That's what we do with cows and pigs. If canibalism wasn't taboo you can imagine factory farmed lard arses.

   Posted 3 months ago #
2. 

   dvo4fun
   

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   Let us know how the gastronomic tour goes b-j.

   This food thing is mostly cultural n'est-ca pas? If a grazing quadruped is used to convert the goodness in grass into a bite-sized snack - and thus save us the bother of eating 12 hours a day - does it matter whether it's a horse or a cow? Still don't fancy eating a horse though.

   Love the smell of cooked snails but have never quite got one into my mouth. In all ignorance mrs4fun ordered a steak tartare when we were in Paris. Either ingrediant would have made me heave but credit to her; when the raw mince topped with a slimy raw egg appeared she managed to get much of it down. And it stayed down.

   Posted 3 months ago #
3. 

   Lucy4
   

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   The problem with horse meat in processed food is the source of the horses. 100,000s of horses are bought in the States, for instance, and transported to Mexico and Canada for slaughtering. A large proportion is shipped to meat processors in Europe. As the horses were not intended for meat they've been given all sorts of drugs, including carcinogens, and you definitely don't want to be eating them. Info courtesy of Radio 4

   The English have a problem with snails because we prefer fast food

   Posted 3 months ago #
4. 

   beau-jolly
   

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   I've eaten snails in Liechtenstein. Seemed like a good idea at the time. They are like big bogeys and just taste of the garlic butter.

   I would rather eat a fresh horse than a factory chicken or a "utility" turkey. Horse is more ethical as it isn't bred for meat or killed early. Generally they are free range and well looked after.

   As mentioned on the other page 80% of red meat eaten in the world is goat. There is a young entrepeneur in Dorset who takes the male kids from milk herds and fattens them up with the waste from Dorset Cereals. Like male calves they would normally be fed to hound packs. He sells the meat in farm shops and its a bloody site more expensive than lamb!

   EDIT: Sorry Lucy, Overlaped. I hadn't thought of that! I guess the thing about farmed meat is that it is designed to be eaten

   Posted 3 months ago #
5. 

   Titus
   

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   "If canibalism wasn't taboo you can imagine factory farmed lard arses."

   There's got to be a thread in itself there.

   Posted 3 months ago #
6. 

   Ironduke
   

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   The 'bute' thing in the stories is very valid- its the common painkiller used in horses; particularly old and stiff horses. However, if a horse on it is slaughtered and eaten then the metabolites do terrible things to us- seizures, hallucinations- apparently.

   Some EU regulations now mean every horse must have a passport, with all meds recorded in it.

   Disposal of a horse carcase also costs money, if it is injected...but if its shot and has a passport then you used to get paid for it (and typically fed to dogs at a hunt yard). I guess now you could slaughter and use the meat? ON the one hand, its a 'green' use of the animal rather than burying or burning it??

   Posted 3 months ago #
7. 

   Sinnick
   

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   I think I read that the horses are from Poland. I'd have thought it better business just to sell them to the French for a higher price.

   Incidentally, goat tastes great - just a variety of sheep, really. Indian & Jamaican cuisine.

   Posted 3 months ago #
8. 

   Golgo13
   

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   Had horse steak yesterday. Near Milan. Bloody lovely.

   This whole furore just made me curious, so first place I go that has horse on the menu, I think "well let's see what all the fuss is about then".

   You couldn't probably concoct a cleverer marketing campaign for launching horse meat.

   Talk about product placement...

   ...go on. Talk about it.

   All the red-trousered hipsters of Shoreditch will be flocking to pop-up horse restaurants, I tell you.

   Posted 3 months ago #
9. 

   The All New Jeni B
   

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   Problem is though Id, many, many horses don't have the bute recorded in their passports.

   Was talking about this with horsey friends, all of whom said that they had called vets out who'd given bute, but it'd never been recorded.

   Also, passports are too easily 'cleaned' and apparently, fake/forged passports are freely available. Particularly at events.

   Posted 3 months ago #
10. 

    Ironduke
    

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    Horse owners are a bunch of manipulative crooks. I overhear the 'passport lost / at home / eaten by dog phonecalls frequently.

    Never had to cut a passport out of a dog's gut though...

    Posted 3 months ago #
11. 

    The All New Jeni B
    

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    These friends were all in favour of a correctly, and strictly, operated passport system. There's an increased incidence of horses being stolen from fields and sold on abroad on fake passports, and a properly managed system would help arrest that.

    Don't get me wrong, of course there are crooks, but there are far more who want to see those crooks stopped.

    Posted 3 months ago #
12. 

    beau-jolly
    

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    What gets my goat, so to speak, is this insistance that it is not a matter of contamination or a health issue, just mislabelling. What complete cow horseshit! Food from illegal and unknown sourses being sold by massive brands is a contamination and health issue. It show that even well respected brands like Findus have no control over what they produce. The worry is that they are only looking for horse DNA and that the only reason they haven't discovered cat, dog, rat or badger is that they haven't been looking for it.

    (At some point in this I would like to mention spaghetti Bolognieghs, horse radish and Mascapony, please make up your own jokes)

    Posted 3 months ago #
13. 

    button
    

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    Whats the problem with Bute? Men have been splashing it all over since the 70s.

    Posted 3 months ago #
14. 

    beau-jolly
    

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    BBC news: In the UK about 8,000 horses a year are slaughtered for human consumption.

    Insects. That's the way foreward. Pure protein, breed like buggery and no-one gives a toss about their well-being.

    About 12 years ago I was having a pint after work with the ops director of the company's
    wine bar brand. The buyer was there and they were discussing menu and brand innovations. "Insects!" I kept shouting, but they would not listen. Too far ahead of my time.

    Posted 3 months ago #
15. 

    AReader
    

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    Golgo:
    

    Had horse steak yesterday. Near Milan. Bloody lovely.

    This whole furore just made me curious, so first place I go that has horse on the menu, I think "well let's see what all the fuss is about then".

    You couldn't probably concoct a cleverer marketing campaign for launching horse meat.

    That's what I tried to parody. If the horse meat is properly sourced and labelled, then what's the problem?

    That and I went for the bad taste option of wondering if Findus were to relabel what they've just recalled...couldn't happen, could it?

    Posted 3 months ago #
16. 

    Ironduke
    

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    Jeni, horse owners are either tight-fisted, hypocritical, animal-exploiting bastards, or tight-fisted, hypochondriac, over-mothering lunatics.

    Typically I am happy to debate these topics but in this case any discussion is pointless because I'm extremely right.

    Posted 3 months ago #
17. 

    edoode
    

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    Findus Lasagne 100% horse meat - at least it scored 100% and is not tainted by beef, pork, lamb nor macaque monkey.

    Posted 3 months ago #

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