Post: #1

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/03/12/hors...en-in-u-s/

I was talking with Chris Cosentino a while back at his restaurant in SF, Incanto (good restaurant, not great). At some point we were shooting the shit about future trends and he called this one; horse meat. While deeply disturbing to some Americans, horsemeat is very common in other parts of the world.

From what I've heard about the taste, I'm not opposed to using it if it's from a reputable source (pasture raised, grassfed, plenty of space, etc). It's like anything else; I would never buy IPB pork from what they do to those goddamn pigs. It's horrifying, and pigs are smart as hell, smarter than dogs.

It's interesting to me, the morality that humans project on animals they will and won't eat. We laugh at Indians for not eating cows, just like much of the world would laugh at us for not eating horse.

I will admit I've got my own animal preferences. I look at horses and they definitely symbolize freedom, power, beauty. Something sad about corralling them in a slaughterhouse and turning them into burger meat.

Post: #2

When it comes to animals, we have this feminine pose of 'if it's cute, it's wrong to eat it.' It's chick thinking, but by no means is it limited to women. For a lot of women, they'd be a lot less troubled by a homeless man getting shot than a cute puppy dying. Instead of a masculine mindset, of 'we eat animals because that is our right as humans, and animals are inferior' or 'eating animals is wrong,' the decision to eat an animal or not becomes a morbid beauty contest.

It's almost a cliche here, that women don't much care about the fates of loser 'beta' men - and the same goes for their attitudes to animals - if it's cute, it's wrong to eat it.

Could also be great business - the whole reason for the horsemeat scandal is that horsemeat is cheap because horse carcasses are not desired for their flesh. Their flesh is a waste product. If the proprietor got 'hand-me-down' horses instead of ones raised specifically for consumption, he might get decent meat cheap. It would be like if we never ate beef but only raised cows for their hides - selling the meat would be pure profit at first, until meat consumption caught up with leather consumption.

Post: #3

(03-13-2013 12:27 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/03/12/hors...en-in-u-s/

I was talking with Chris Cosentino a while back at his restaurant in SF, Incanto (good restaurant, not great). At some point we were shooting the shit about future trends and he called this one; horse meat. While deeply disturbing to some Americans, horsemeat is very common in other parts of the world.

I saw it in the grocery stores in Montreal.

I heard it is popular in Italy as well.

Post: #4

I can't wait to cook some Seabusicuit casserole.

Post: #5

YES! This is so metal.

Post: #6

I eat a lot of moose and a lot of people knock it but anyone who's tried it likes it usually.. Depends on how you cook it. I assume horse meat would be similar. Moose is super lean, very tough if you don't cook it properly.

Post: #7

food wise ill try anything once.

ive never had horse before but if it was on the menu i would try it.

if it tastes half as good as buffalo i will eat the shit out of it

Post: #8

All you international playboys tell us of the most jacked shit you ate in your travels. Punani do not count.

Post: #9

I don't see how big corporations will benefit by adding horses into the program.

- horses are not as big as cows, which means less meat per animal, multiply that by thousands that's a lot of meat.
Also a lot of cows are already being stored/fed, adding horses might make the process more complex than it already is, Corps are looking for simplicity not complexity.

- A lot of research has already been put into the cow on how to make it bigger, produce more milk, increase certain areas of its body, behaviors etc..
Unless most of that knowledge can be applied to horses, it means creating a new budget on " studies" about the horse.

- Also the majority of people see horses as pets just like dogs and cats; in order to be able to sell horse meat to the mass, the view associated to the horse will need to be changed from "pet" to "food".
This will then requires another budget on psychological studies on how to change the view of the horse as "pet" to "food" through ads, trends and so forth.

Personally I wouldn't mind eating horses, meat is meat.

Post: #10

I'd love to try it. The last exotic meat I tried was bear and it was amazing!

Post: #11

It's all about us categorizing horses as domestic animals, and granting them the protection that we do other domestic animals like dogs and cats. We've always had the luxury of doing so. In other corners of the world, they don't have that luxury. If it walks, crawls, flies and swims, it's fair game - literally. If an old, broken down nag dies on a farm somewhere, I don't see the problem with eating the meat. We use the hide, hooves, etc. so why not the meat if it's edible?

Post: #12

Serge Nubret ate 6 lbs of horse meat a day and was one of the most jacked body builders of all time.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Nubret

Post: #13

Americans don't like to eat horses because horses have strong symbolic value. It's a symbol of (and once was literally) a vehicle for power and rugged individuality. To us, eating a horse is like saying we bend over for Europe to fuck us in the ass.

Symbolically, it would be like eating a bald eagle.

Post: #14

(03-13-2013 02:10 PM)soup Wrote:  Americans don't like to eat horses because horses have strong symbolic value. It's a symbol of (and once was literally) a vehicle for power and rugged individuality. To us, eating a horse is like saying we bend over for Europe to fuck us in the ass.

Symbolically, it would be like eating a bald eagle.

We would eat horse more than bald eagle if we still lived off the land. Horse is better for you than the toxic over crowded chicken everyone loves. At the rate were going were gonna have to eat bugs soon.

Post: #15

(03-13-2013 05:06 PM)MidniteSpecial Wrote:  

(03-13-2013 02:10 PM)soup Wrote:  Americans don't like to eat horses because horses have strong symbolic value. It's a symbol of (and once was literally) a vehicle for power and rugged individuality. To us, eating a horse is like saying we bend over for Europe to fuck us in the ass.

Symbolically, it would be like eating a bald eagle.

We would eat horse more than bald eagle if we still lived off the land. Horse is better for you than the toxic over crowded chicken everyone loves. At the rate were going were gonna have to eat bugs soon.

Noma, considered by many to be the best restaurant in the world for several years running, has several courses that involve serving ants, either in live or pureed form.

(For the record, while I think the restaurant is important and is pushing a lot of boundaries, I think that style of "cooking" is complete and utter horseshit)

Post: #16

I think basil is spot on about the way feminized thinking influences what we eat. It's also interesting to note that almost everyone that works in animal rescue or animal rights is a childless 30+ woman. If women don't have kids to nurture they'll project it onto animals.

Post: #17

(03-13-2013 05:32 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(03-13-2013 05:06 PM)MidniteSpecial Wrote:  

(03-13-2013 02:10 PM)soup Wrote:  Americans don't like to eat horses because horses have strong symbolic value. It's a symbol of (and once was literally) a vehicle for power and rugged individuality. To us, eating a horse is like saying we bend over for Europe to fuck us in the ass.

Symbolically, it would be like eating a bald eagle.

We would eat horse more than bald eagle if we still lived off the land. Horse is better for you than the toxic over crowded chicken everyone loves. At the rate were going were gonna have to eat bugs soon.

Noma, considered by many to be the best restaurant in the world for several years running, has several courses that involve serving ants, either in live or pureed form.

(For the record, while I think the restaurant is important and is pushing a lot of boundaries, I think that style of "cooking" is complete and utter horseshit)

How do you feel about what chefs like Ferran Adria do? Namely combining science with food?

Post: #18

(03-13-2013 12:45 PM)basilransom Wrote:  When it comes to animals, we have this feminine pose of 'if it's cute, it's wrong to eat it.' It's chick thinking, but by no means is it limited to women. For a lot of women, they'd be a lot less troubled by a homeless man getting shot than a cute puppy dying.

Lol that's sad but true. I wanna try some horse. A horse burger with a side of alligator I could care less about a horse's life as long as they're not going extinct.

Post: #19

I had horse in Iceland over NYE and it was nothing to rave about. This was at the top restaurant there too. However, all the locals were shocked that I didn't like it so maybe I had a bad piece.

Whale on the other hand....fucking delicious.

Post: #20

(03-13-2013 05:06 PM)MidniteSpecial Wrote:  

(03-13-2013 02:10 PM)soup Wrote:  Americans don't like to eat horses because horses have strong symbolic value. It's a symbol of (and once was literally) a vehicle for power and rugged individuality. To us, eating a horse is like saying we bend over for Europe to fuck us in the ass.

Symbolically, it would be like eating a bald eagle.

We would eat horse more than bald eagle if we still lived off the land. Horse is better for you than the toxic over crowded chicken everyone loves. At the rate were going were gonna have to eat bugs soon.

Is this where the taboo to eat horses in America came from?

Does anyone know the origins?

Post: #21

I always just thought we didn't eat horse because the meat wasn't tasty. If presented a chance I would try it. The strangest thing I ate on my last trip was cow heart. It was actually pretty tasty. They call them anticuchos in Peru.

Post: #22

(03-13-2013 07:02 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  I always just thought we didn't eat horse because the meat wasn't tasty. If presented a chance I would try it. The strangest thing I ate on my last trip was cow heart. It was actually pretty tasty. They call them anticuchos in Peru.

Watching travel/food shows really opened my eyes. In most of the world outside the US, they eat just about every organ in an animal. I mean NOTHING goes to waste. There was a time in the US when we did that (mostly the poor made due with what the wealthy threw away). Various animal hearts are eaten, and some high-end restaurants worldwide are dressing up guts and charging top dollar for it.

Post: #23

Horse is my favorite meat ( ok no maybe not, Bison is but it's more $), super lean and cheap.

Post: #24

(03-13-2013 08:27 PM)Timoteo Wrote:  

(03-13-2013 07:02 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  I always just thought we didn't eat horse because the meat wasn't tasty. If presented a chance I would try it. The strangest thing I ate on my last trip was cow heart. It was actually pretty tasty. They call them anticuchos in Peru.

Watching travel/food shows really opened my eyes. In most of the world outside the US, they eat just about every organ in an animal. I mean NOTHING goes to waste. There was a time in the US when we did that (mostly the poor made due with what the wealthy threw away). Various animal hearts are eaten, and some high-end restaurants worldwide are dressing up guts and charging top dollar for it.

Someone has been watching too much Bizarre Foods.

Post: #25

When I grew up or visited family in Europe as a kid, horse sausage and steak were normal dishes. The sausage is usually strongly spiced, the steaks are a bit tough but not bad. The reason for this is (and this answers the question why we should eat horse even though it is less efficient to produce than beef) that horses are not bred for meat but racing/ hobbies etc. Eating their meat is just a byproduct and avoids wasting a perfectly good resource. Once the animals have outlived their job or are put down for other reasons they are usually fairly old which makes their meat tougher than purpose-produced beef.
When the US horse meat export industry was outlawed in the mid 2000s I saw a lot of illegally dumped horse carcasses in KY and TN since disposal is expensive and the breeders no longer had the option to ship their horses to slaughterhouses.

In terms of bizarre foods I have had: Pig Blood soup, grasshoppers, kangaroo, buffalo, bison, alligator, ostrich, rattlesnake, possum, squirrel brains.