As the saying goes, “I could eat a horse,” and that’s likely what many Irish did over the past several months. The Irish Food watchdog, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, said it discovered horse DNA in burger products sold by Tesco, LIDL, ALDI, SPAR, and the country’s largest domestic supermarket chain, Dunnes Stores, causing the authority to demand the removal of ten million burgers from supermarket shelves.
As it turns out, eating horse meat is legal in Ireland. So why are the Irish horrified by the thoughts of munching on a horse meat patty? Because eating horse meat is taboo.
In Ireland, the horse has reached pet status. And pet status means that the filly “Ivy, the confident curious girl,” as advertised on the Irish website ispca.ie, will not become a hamburger, but, rather, a pet, and even though Ireland has an over-population of horses that is reaching crisis level, culling them for domestic consumption is not an option.
And it seems the Irish are not alone. Americans share the same taboo, even though horse meat consumption is also legal in the U.S.
Read more: Irish government knew of horsemeat burger scandal before Christmas
President Obama, on November 11, 2011, lifted a five-year ban on funding horse meat inspections, which opened up the meat market to horse meat sales for human consumption. M. Wells Dinette, a trendy café at Queens Museum (MoMA PS1) jumped at the chance of adding a horse meat tartare to its sushi menu when the ban was lifted. But, after only five days on the menu it was removed. Surprised by death threats, the outcry from animal rights activists, and the potential legal ramifications from health officials against the serving of horse meat, head chef Hugue Dufour squashed the idea of horse fare.
According to Liz Robbins of the New York Times, Mr Dufour said, “I love horse, but I’m not going to start killing my neighbor because he doesn’t want to eat horse. I can serve other things.”
Not everyone in the world shares the same taboo as the Irish and the Americans. Horse meat consumption is widely accepted in France, where it can be purchased at specialist butcher shops (boucheries chevalines) and supermarkets.
The practice of eating horse meat began in 1866 when the first Parisian horse butcher opened for those who could not afford beef. When the Prussian Army laid siege to the city in 1870-71, it became a staple diet for a starving population. And, during WWI and WWII, soldiers and civilians ate horse meat as a matter of survival.
Read more stories on Irish food and drink here
Today horse meat is an alternative to more expensive meat options, and its popularity as a food source continues. The French claim it tastes good and they also recognize that it’s protein-rich and immune to Bovine Spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
The Italians too love their horse meat, having recently become the biggest consumers of horse meat in Europe, even going as far as enjoying a horse meat variety in their classic Italian Mortadella sausage. And, as far away as Mexico, China, and Japan, horse meat is regularly found on the dinner plate. In Siberia, the Yakut horse is bred specifically for food and is an important part of the local diet.
While the Irish and the Americans would likely run screaming into the streets at the thoughts of munching on a horse meat burger, most of the world, on the other hand, would lick their lips and tuck into their juicy meal.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.IrelandNorth | Jan 20, 2013, 02:04 PM EST
Hare Krishna's believe wars every few generations are the inevitable result of the accumulated bad karma of the dead animals consumed by humans. Most spiritual traditions worth their salt espouse vegetarianism, and not for nothing. As someone once said, if people had to kill their own meat (instead of subcontracting the butchering function), everyone would be vegetarian. People should have more respect for their bodies as the temple of their souls, instead of turning them into crematoria for dead animals. Going veggie neutralises the pungency of your gaseous emissions. And your bowel movements, although not exactly fragrant, will be nothing like they were. Think of the good you'll be doing the ozone layer.
angrypaddy | Jan 20, 2013, 12:39 AM EST
Get that Irish up pop up B/S off my screen
WoundedKnee | Jan 19, 2013, 07:35 PM EST
I've been a vegetarian all my adult life, ever since someone took me to a slaughterhouse when I was a teenager. My brain and body continue to function to specifications--all systems remain at GO. I actually don't particularly like animals--I just don't want to eat their corpses. Not eating meat has never seriously restricted me, maybe it was just a little tough during the time I lived in Argentina, because those folks regularly pig out on meat. The only other way if has affected me is that I just cannot stand having intimate relations with a woman who has eaten meat in the previous hours, or who is generally a big carnivore. There's an odor from meat eating women's bodies that is far from erotic, regardless of how heavy a perfume they put on. I can do it with a smoker, but not with a woman that reeks of dead carcasses. I notice that carnivores like to avoid seeing how their meat is produced. Funny, because folks who eat bread don't shirk seeing how bread and cakes are produced. Any meat eater that wants to see the provenance of his burger can find countless clips of slaughterhouses on Youtube. Come on folks, check those sites out. And if you're into eating horse, there's a good slaughterhouse clip now circulating on Youtube in England, you'll find it easily on the web. Happy Hamburgers!
angrypaddy | Jan 19, 2013, 12:41 AM EST
Haven't you been feeding your children Mcaroo burgers for years now without a word out of ya
IrelandNorth | Jan 18, 2013, 02:25 PM EST
A case of locking the sta[p]le after the horse has b[urger]ed.
laff1948 | Jan 18, 2013, 12:46 PM EST
I don't want to eat horse but if others do -- so be it. I do think we should know what's in our burgers though. I was in Ireland in 2010 and was amazed at the great sandwiches being sold at petrol stations. But you know I have noticed a desire for grass and sweet feed ever since.....