They Eat Horses, Don't They?
Determining where you fit into the food chain
If you’re hungry enough to eat a horse, you may be in luck—depending on where you live.
Can you eat horsemeat in America? The answer is complex. It’s legal to consume in all but four states (Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island and Hawaii). It needs to be inspected first, though, and the USDA has no budget for such inspections. Thus, there’s a ban on selling horse meat commercially, although you can always slaughter your own animal or receive meat from friends.
Here in the U.S, horses are classified as an “amenable species,” which is a nice way of saying that many people would recoil in horror at the thought of eating their pet horse. While horse slaughterhouses were common in the 19th century, the last one shut down in 2007. In this culture, the current sentimental aspects of raising and owning horses generally rule out the idea of using them for food. Remember the controversy over the fish once labeled as dolphin? Sales declined severely because consumers thought they were eating Flipper, and the fish is now known as mahi.
Europe is a mixed bag. In 2013, the continent was rocked by a scandal involving passing off horse meat as beef. Irish food inspectors found horse meat in burgers stocked in several U.K. supermarkets, as well as fast food outlets such as Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Little Caesar’s, and prepared frozen foods in three countries. The blame was placed on a company named Spanghero, and four of their executives were put on trial.
Even so, horse meat has long been considered a delicacy in France, and there were over 100 equine slaughterhouses operating in the 19th century. Nearly a dozen horse meat butcher shops are still scattered throughout Paris. I ate horse meat several times in Parisian restaurants. The texture is similar to beef, but the taste has a pleasant gamy quality, a tang, that beef usually lacks; there are restaurants throughout the country that serve it, without apology. According to nutritiondata.com, horse is far healthier than other types of meat. It contains more than twice as much iron and vitamin B-12 than beef, and nearly 30 times the amount of omega-3 fatty acid concentration.
So what’s all the uproar about? In the 2013 scandal, the issue was bait and switch. However, if you accept the fact that horse may be better for you than beef, and probably has a more interesting taste, the reasons for the controversy surrounding horse meat may be more complicated. It goes to the heart of our carnivorous culture. Even the most confirmed carnivore maintains a psychological hierarchy about animals—it’s acceptable to kill and eat cows, but the family dog is sacred. This schizophrenia may be difficult to navigate at times: Are cows less lovable than horses? Apparently so, or at the very least they seem to have less emotional importance to many people (when was the last time you rode a cow or bet on a thoroughbred cow race?).
Cultural standards vary widely, and dog meat is reputed to be consumed in parts of Asia. Cows are sacred in India, and a real outrage would occur if beef was found to be masquerading as horse. There are still many countries that utilize horses as beasts of burden and transport. What happens to those animals when their useful life comes to an end? If you think they’re retired to a peaceful pasture to spend their remaining years happily munching on oats, think again.
Ironically, the demand for horsemeat actually increased 15% in France after the 2013 scandal. In the end, it’s all about determining your place on the food chain. The Parisians lining up to buy dinner at the horse butcher seem to have things sorted out: There’s a time to ride them, a time to watch them race, and a time to eat them.
