Sunday 10 February 2013

Why not eat horse?

I choose not to eat meat, so this horse-eating furore doesn't affect me directly - in fact, I feel a bit of an outsider to the whole performance. But it has made me think.

I think there are two issues here - and, in much of the reporting - they are getting muddled.

Firstly, it is important that 'it does what it says on the tin.' If something says it's beef, it should be beef. There are many people with food intolerances, or with religious dictates, who need to be able to rely on labelling. (Let's not get into the size of print on food labels - that way madness lies.) And if there has been an international conspiracy - well, that will keep the journalists happy for a long time, and maybe allow the politicians to distract us for long enough to bury other bad news.

Secondly - why shouldn't we eat horse? We've eaten cows and pigs and goats and chickens for centuries. At my local market, I can buy (should I want to) burgers made from kangaroo and ostrich. Why not horse?

Why not dog? Or cat? Or rat? Or scorpion? In the affluent west, we take for granted that we can pick and choose which animals we eat. We can throw up our hands in horror at the mere idea of serving up Dobbin for Sunday lunch. Of giving Rover a final pat before shoving him in the oven for a couple of hours. Of setting traps by rat holes and mixing a tasty sauce with tomatoes and a chilli or two.

We are privileged in being able to make the arbitrary decision that some animals are food and others are not. Hungry people find protein where they can. We might not fancy horse, but don't have a right to judge those who - through poverty, or tradition - make different food decisions from ours.

Or do you meat-eaters disagree?

9 comments:

  1. I was with you there all the way until you got to dog and cat. No way could I ever eat anything that I've kept as a pet but that's my personal feelings. Like you I choose not to eat beef but there's more than just incorrect labelling. As you say, there are religious considerations. Horse meat is not kosher. But I think the most important issue here is that they are uncovering criminal activities. Firms have paid for one thing and been provided with a cheaper alternative. That's the real issue.

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    1. I agree that the real issue is being told the truth about what we are eating.

      But I just wanted to post a little reminder that we are privileged to live somewhere where we can make choices about what we eat.

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  2. I agree that yes we are priviledged to be able to make choices about what we eat - but surely those choices are negated if we are not able to guarantee that what we buy is what we are eating.

    In countries where animals like dog and rat are routinely eaten I would think it is likely that they are either allowed to live wild until being caught for food - thus eating their natural diet, or bred for eating but fed a natural organic diet (maybe not the best quality food but not tons of chemicals either). I would be far more inclined to eat meat in those conditions than I am in the west (although I would struggle with dog).

    I also think we were lucky historically in that our native species including cows, sheep, pigs, deer etc. all of which were much more easily than animals in some other countries - we were able to develop a way of living which allowed us to use dogs and cats as guards and rat catchers rather than as roast dinner because we were able to keep other animals to eat.

    The main issue I agree though is that what is in the box is not what is on the label - and the company that manufactures the final product are not aware of that. Animals that are bred to be eaten by humans - or those that live wild until caught and eaten - are not pumped full of chemicals designed to make them good at something whilst they are alive, like racehorses are for example. Those chemicals are not given to animals which are due to be eaten for good reason - that they are toxic to humans. If we cannot guarantee the provenance of our meat then we have no idea what we are eating - and the results could be very dangerous.

    Anna

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    1. Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Anna - I think you've covered this wonderfully.

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  3. I agree on all counts, but especially the deception one. I personally prefer not to eat meat because I am a) an animal lover and b) I feel if everyone in the affluent world ate less meat, more animals would be cared for in humane conditions (I hope they would anyway). That aside, for those who do eat meat, I will not be their judge as to what kind it is. I agree, Jo, we have the luxury of choice. I expect I would also eat anything, including all meat products, if I were hungry enough. By the way, the French do have the luxury of choice, and they still eat horse, snails, frogs and many things other people find abhorrent.

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    1. I agree that deception is crucial.

      And I think we are privileged in the availability of food choices - and sometimes we behave as if this is a right, forgetting that many have to eat what they can find.

      (By the way, Val - I think in a recent comment you mentioned my family - well Anna, who wrote the previous comment, is a daughter. I don't get away with much when she's around ...)

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  4. I think that trust is the issue here and I'm sure it's not going to stop at lasangne and burgers. What about chicken meat in frozen curries? It doesn't look like or taste much like chicken I dread to think what it could be. We do have a choice in what animals we choose to eat here and I suppose it is a cultural choice what we feel we can eat. This is enough to make me a vegetarian . I do think our uk farmers and butchers will gain from this which can only be a good thing. Good pist Jo.

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    1. Thank you, Anne - I know just what a struggle it is for you to do anything online at the moment, so this comment is especially precious.

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  5. I do agree. Or locusts... or snails... I don't have a problem with whatever people eat but I would be worried about the horse antibiotics or other diseases which were carried in this adulterated meat. Or possibly even rats after all ...yuk...

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