Topic: Horsemeat burgers and lasagne

[beachbum]

Scandal? What scandal? Send me some! Horse used to be my favourite meat back in the 70s - especially when I was on holiday in Southern Italy.

It was commonly used in BIR restaurants in Cardiff at any rate where the menu would generally read like this:

Beef Dopiaza
Lamb Dopiaza
Meat Dopiaza
Chicken Dopiaza etc

And no, it's not an urban myth along with the frozen cats and the half a labrador in the Chinese restaurant freezer, whenever I asked the Maitre d' what the meat was on the menu he was always forthcoming.

Sort of in the same taste spectrum as venison and - surprisingly - kangaroo, not beefy really. Actually would be a fair sub for goat.
My Dad always used to go for the horse as well, as he said "what would you rather eat, some fly bitten cow that's been up to it's knees in mud and shyte or a well groomed and stabled horse that just didn't run fast enough  ;D

The Irish horse trade got knocked in the head in the 70s - older forum members may still remember the Daily Mirror publishing gruesome pics on Page 1, but the furore was more about cruelty than health concerns.

[Malc.]

Its all horses for courses.

I've eaten horse and love it, and would willingly eat it again, though i'd rather it was a steak than a lasagne!

[Stephen Lindsay]

What about the "halal" pork in the pasties and pies sent to the prisons? 

[natterjak]

It's not the fact that the meat was horse rather than beef which concerns me, like you say horse is a perfectly palatable meat. The real issue is if the suppliers of meat can't be trusted to tell the truth about what meat they're supplying, can they be trusted not to introduce unsafe meat from untested sources.? There may be drugs or other chemicals in illicit meat supplies which are not tested for during spot checks because they aren't applicable to beef (like that polybutylene horse drug).

Having said all that, I used to quite enjoy a Findus lasagne from time to time. It wasn't the pasta or the cheese which was the best bit, it was the the bologneighs sauce.... 

[Peripatetic Phil]

It is interesting how we all have different concerns : product labelling, health risk, "passing off" and so on.  Yet my concern is completely different.  For me, eating cat, dog or horse represents a complete betrayal of trust -- these animals give their love unconditionally to we humans, and ask for little in return apart from a warm bed and something to eat.  To eat one is, to me, as unthinkable and as abhorrent as the idea of eating a child.

** Phil.

[Graeme]

Well said Phil...
(edit)
But the Ref to a child now tonight scares me
a little in this word we live in 

[curryhell]

I'm afraid that i have to agree with Phil on this one  :

[fried]

I'm sorry but I disagree with Phil on this one. Whether certain animals give you their 'love unconditionally' is at best highly debatable. People who work with animals will also tell you the same about cows and especially pigs. Once you chose to eat meat you cannot pretend that the meat you eat is somehow different. You have a personal choice to not eat or eat as you wish.

My niece for example gets terribly upset if we talk about eating rabbit. I can understand the sentiments coming from a vegetarian but other wise it all sounds like some animals are 'cuter' than others.

[Naga]

...it was the the bologneighs sauce...

Ohhhh Nooooo! I hope these horse jokes don't go on furlong!

[Peripatetic Phil]

I'm sorry but I disagree with Phil on this one. Whether certain animals give you their 'love unconditionally' is at best highly debatable. People who work with animals will also tell you the same about cows and especially pigs. Once you chose to eat meat you cannot pretend that the meat you eat is somehow different.

It is not a pretence, Fried : it is a reality.  Animals with whom I choose to share my home, or my stable, I do not eat (nor do I eat their friends and relatives); animals with whom I have no close relationship, I do eat.  That is the difference, and it is real.

You have a personal choice to not eat or eat as you wish.

I agree; each must make his her her own choice.  But that does not disbar those who won't eat (say) veal from seeking to persuade others to do likewise.  We have a choice, but we also have the right to attempt to convince others of our position and of the reason(s) that we have taken that postion.

My niece for example gets terribly upset if we talk about eating rabbit. I can understand the sentiments coming from a vegetarian but other wise it all sounds like some animals are 'cuter' than others.

I eat rabbit, and I have no compunction about skinning and gutting road-kill rabbit (and then eating it, of course).  But put a 12-bore in my hand, and a rabbit 20 yards away, and I will open the breech : what I see in front of me is alive and beautiful, and long may it remain that way.  If, later, someone shoots that rabbit and it ends up in my local farm shop, then I will buy it and eat it, because to allow it to be killed for nothing (or for sport) would be criminal -- but I will never intentionally sentence any animal to death.

** Phil.