Would you eat a horse (not necessarily a whole one)?

This a debate that recently came up that I found interesting. It's not food that I'm particularily drawn towards or have really considered consuming one way or another. But thinking about it, we eat most farm animals anyhow. Why not horse? Cows, pigs and deer, all large hooved mammals seem to be consumed without much thought. Is it a social taboo? Or are there practical reasons (doesn't taste too good, expensive to produce?) To me it seems like it could be a good lean meat.

Has anyone actually tried it before? If it was a commonly available at the grocery store would you at least give it a shot?

I'd give it a shot.

I would definitely try horse meat.

I would definitely try horse meat.

quatoe

I've tried much more weird things.

I've had horse meat on sandwiches while visiting my grandma, good stuff. If it became readily available in stores around here I'd buy it.

[QUOTE="quatoe"]

I would definitely try horse meat.

jeremiah06

Maybe it's not eaten because it's too stringy.

And yes, I would try it.

No.... but I'd like to try kangaroo though, seen it on the Discovery channel, the meat is very tender, better than beef.. Imagine with hot salsa. hmmmm :)

Dogswithguns

I bet it tastes like chicken.

I think it would be like any other kinds of meat out there so why not? :D

What about a beautiful horse?

meat is meat

I've had raw horse meat before. It was pretty good actually.

For those that eat cows/pigs/etc, why would you not?rawsavon

[QUOTE="rawsavon"]For those that eat cows/pigs/etc, why would you not?jeremiah06

[QUOTE="jeremiah06"][QUOTE="rawsavon"]For those that eat cows/pigs/etc, why would you not?rawsavon

It tastes like old dry beef in a similar way that mutton tastes like old lamb. As far as horses are concerned, they can be used by people to earn farm status here and are the only non-farm animal to do so (as they don't provide a food product themselves or as a byproduct, be it milk or eggs or whatever). I find it ridiculous that someone can install a riding pen, buy a couple of horses and instantly reap the benefits of lower taxes by declaring their property a farm, so it only makes sense that we should also eat them. Won't happen, though, it's a cultural thing. Same reason why you won't see dogs or cats appearing on menus anywhere in North America - though to be honest the meat from those is garbage. Horse actually tastes decent.DJ_Lae

Maybe we should start importing/raising Zebra meat. Culturally we probably wouldn't see zebras as a pet, more likely some type of wild game such as boar. But a logical stepping stone towards horse. But I dont' know much about Zebra. Maybe they are toxic and endangered for all I know.

Horse would be awful eating meat simply for the fact that it's too lean. There is almost zero marbling (fat buildup) in the muscles of horses and as such every part of it was be tough and almost impossible to eat. You would have to braise it for HOURS just to be able to do SOMETHING with it.

Lean meats can be fine (Veal) but the difference with that is that Veal, while lean is also incredibly tender because the calfs are so young they have yet to develop strong muslces. Horses would be the exact opposite.

Meat's meat.

Horse would be awful eating meat simply for the fact that it's too lean. There is almost zero marbling (fat buildup) in the muscles of horses and as such every part of it was be tough and almost impossible to eat. You would have to braise it for HOURS just to be able to do SOMETHING with it.

Lean meats can be fine (Veal) but the difference with that is that Veal, while lean is also incredibly tender because the calfs are so young they have yet to develop strong muslces. Horses would be the exact opposite.

Tim_Q

Baby Horses then? Ponies perhaps?

Then again, considering horses are mostly raised for performance and appearance, if they were raised with food in mind could they be plumped up a bit?

[QUOTE="Tim_Q"]

Horse would be awful eating meat simply for the fact that it's too lean. There is almost zero marbling (fat buildup) in the muscles of horses and as such every part of it was be tough and almost impossible to eat. You would have to braise it for HOURS just to be able to do SOMETHING with it.

Lean meats can be fine (Veal) but the difference with that is that Veal, while lean is also incredibly tender because the calfs are so young they have yet to develop strong muslces. Horses would be the exact opposite.

_BlueDuck_

Baby Horses then? Ponies perhaps?

Then again, considering horses are mostly raised for performance and appearance, if they were raised with food in mind could they be plumped up a bit?

I suppose in theory you could... but at this point it's just be impractical. Horses have been raised and bred through generations of perfectly toned, performance-driven genes. That's what horses are bred for. So we'd be going against all of that to then plump them up after the fact so we could eat them...

And if you think PETA is against Veal, can you imagine what they'd say when they found out we were 'torturing' ponies? :P

Horse sure, but only with a side of human flesh.

Horse doesn't sound too appetizing to me.

ummm no, because I already ate one before, and I personally didn't like it. Dogs are the best. Seriously.funsohng

Horse-dog patties sounds delicious. Throw some honey mustard on that.

meat is meat

superdum2

I've had horse meat, it was pretty good.

Only if I could use Ketchup. If not, no dice.

I would rather starve.

yummy

I guess I'd try it, but I'd sort of imagine horse meat to be sort of tough.

[QUOTE="funsohng"]ummm no, because I already ate one before, and I personally didn't like it. Dogs are the best. Seriously.topgunmv

Horse-dog patties sounds delicious. Throw some honey mustard on that.