Talk:Horse meat

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Contents 1 Restructure required 2 Fast cows 3 Cleanup 4 Opposition 5 Legal info 6 that's disgusting 7 More balanced external links 8 Taboo 9 eating a dish most savory in sound

[edit] Restructure required

I don't see a need for serious re-writing but I do believe that the section on opposition to consumption of horse meat should be last with preparation and traditions being the preceding section. The main drive of the article is about horse meat and the actual history and traditions surrounding it's consumption should be first. Many people have a problem with horse meat but this is secondary to an actual encylcopaedic description of it. If there are no objections I will do this ASAP. AntonioBu 15:55, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Sounds fine. // Liftarn

[edit] Fast cows

I am removing "In simple terms a horse can be considered to be a fast running cow." from the article. It adds nothing to the content and has little purpose. I'd love to see this entire article cleaned up a bit with a bit of cleaner history research but not expecting anything. --ORBIT 09:09, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

In terms of cultural perspective, why can't cows and horses be treated likewise? --ConradKilroy 16:10, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

It's an irrelavent point. Deer is as to Fast Running Cow. Buffalo is as to Big Cow. What does it matter? The comparison has little merit considering that cows are also a taboo food group to some people. To me the statement is childish and adds nothing to article.--ORBIT 22:50, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

I made that reference and consider it quite relevant because a lot of people have an illogical aversion to horse meat while they are happpy to chew on a chunk of beef. If you think the article should be cleaned up, feel free to get stuck in rather than criticising something without considering why it was included. Garglebutt / (talk) 09:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Actually the statement "In simple terms a horse can be considered to be a fast running cow." would be relevant since there is an aversion or taboo to horsemeat. -intranetusa

[edit] Cleanup

It wasn't very helpful adding a cleanup tag to this page without any comments as to what is wrong with the article. I think it is in fairly good shape, particularly compared to many other articles. Garglebutt / (talk) 09:25, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Opposition

I reworked some recent additions that were obviously from a horse lover. Hopefully I have toned down the POV without diluting the key facts. It has allowed the introduction of sections on processing and opposition which can be expanded to provide more detail on legal status in applicable countries. Garglebutt / (talk) 23:10, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

I commented out the section "Many Americans oppose horse slaughter due to the inhumane process used to kill the animal. The normal process is the use of a captive bolt pistol." as if it should be kept should be put in the captive bolt pistol article. Calling it "inhumane" is a POV unless it can be sourced. It is obviously a legal way to kill large animals for slaughter. // Liftarn

• Yeah I tried to retain some info on the slaughter method as I think that is relevant to this article but there was a lot of POV to be toned down. Garglebutt / (talk) 00:30, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

I've added a bit about captive bolt pistol under production (and removed an unnecesaary iteration). // Liftarn

[edit] Legal info

Is horse meat legal to consume in the USA? I know its legal to produce, we ship to other countries. I want to try some, but cant seem to find any website that sells horse

I don't know about the US but it is not readily available commercially in Australia and you need to know people on the land who slaughter their own animals. Garglebutt / (talk) 01:00, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I know that it's illegal in California to slaughter horses for meat; don't know about selling or eating it there. I was just in Paris, where I saw "cheval" for sale in a supermarket refrigerated case, right next to boeuf, veau, dinde, etc., so I don't understand the statement about ordinary butchers not being allow to trade in it. I also understand that a word used for the meat is "chevaline" (perhaps a sort of euphemism, like "venison" for deer meat, etc.). BillFlis 22:17, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't know for sure. But it is quite possible that the meat is butchered by a special butcher then distributed to supermarkets. Garglebutt / (talk) 22:20, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

I know what you mean. Save me from the standardized corporate supermarkets that refuse to offend. At least I can still get beef and pork, but that gets boring. There are so many other things to try: horse, deer, seal and walrus, rabbit, nutria, guinea pig, buffalo, cape buffalo, water buffalo, emu, zebra, antelope, rhino, whale, dolphin, goat, manatee, platypus, frog (found it in an Asian market), turtle, kangaroo, duck, sea cucumber, giraffe, llama, capybara, moose, iguana, caribou, porcupine, anteater, sloth, beaver, hippo, wildebeest, elephant, peccary, camel... AlbertCahalan 23:35, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

One of the links at the bottom of the page says you can legally buy horse meat in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia. Beltex and Dallas Crown only ship to foreign distributers. Your best bet is probably flying to Quebec. (to get horse meat that may have come from Texas) I've no idea how U.S. customs would react to a few frozen steaks. If you can take dry ice on a plane, do so. Let us know how it goes. AlbertCahalan 00:14, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] that's disgusting

what kind of a person would slaughter such a noble animal for food?--Horse master 04:00, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Someone who is hungry and doesn't anthropomorphise animals. Garglebutt / (talk) 04:36, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Noble animal? That is total crap. Why is it nobler than a pig, for instance? BTW, horse meat sausage with mustard is very delicious. --84.148.180.111 01:00, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

EWWWWWWWW!!! SICK!!! Why??!?!?!?! That's nasty!! Horses are some of my favourite animals!!! *angry* USer:Mitternacht90

Ssh! You'll hurt my pet cow's feelings. Garglebutt / (talk) 21:07, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

It's kind of funny that people have no problem eating cows, chickens and pigs, but mention horse or dog meat, and they have a fit. -anonymous

Not really. Would you want to eat your dog?

Pigs are way smarter, but pigs are ugly and dirty and they have beady little eyes. Animal rights is all about cuteness. AlbertCahalan 22:47, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

The dietary laws of Judaism (Kashrut, adj. Kosher) and Islam (Halal) forbid the eating of flesh of swine or pork in any form, considering the pig to be an unclean animal - 72.185.136.96 18:04, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

I had steak du cheval once in France. It was lovely!! That first time I only knew when my mum told me, and I was happy the next time we went on our booze cruise to have it again. It has an interesting tang one does not find in beef. And no, Mr. favourite animal, I won't regret it either. Lady BlahDeBlah 00:15, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

I keep chickens as pets, and I've never felt any remouse while eating chicken. I can understand not eating an intelligent animal like a human or a dolphin, but I don't see what makes a horse "noble". I've never heard of a horse pulling someone out of a burning building or solving an equation (and not that one plus one parlor trick).Mustang6172 05:11, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More balanced external links

Have decided to include some pro-horse consumption links to make things a little more balanced and not just an "I love horseys!" thing.

Incidentally both of my grandfathers and several uncles are farmers and swear cows are more intelligent than horses. But I don't feel uncomfortable eating a steak, so why not chow down on dobbin? The people who complain will gladly eat battery farmed eggs produced under fantastically cruel conditions, and beef and pork and chicken etc etc. Say it with me everyone "Hypocrites!." AntonioBu 05:23, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Taboo

I've always, well since taking some anthropology courses in college, considered the word "taboo" to mean a moral or spiritual law that is almost never broken in society. I guess the Jewish and Islamic dietary laws could be considered taboos, but I don't think the general distaste of most Americans for eating horse meat quite raises to that level. I would work on the article but I'd really rather not. :-) Steve Dufour 01:41, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

I would describe it as taboo, because if you went around in public saying you eat horse meat, people would get quite upset. You would probably get abused or even assalted. Anthropologists use strict definitions of words in their papers, but wikipedia is not an anthropological encyclopedia. It uses common definitions of common words, and 'taboo' works fine in that sense. (Justinboden86 07:25, 10 March 2007 (UTC))

[edit] eating a dish most savory in sound

horse is delicous! I mean it's virtually the samething as other conterversial issues like Global warming! some people dump and go against envoirmentalists, along with anti PETA and PETA! we fall into either side, but we try to get one side full of empty, and that's why conterversy exists. Just go eat the horse you loved, and you will taste the differentce between that animated horse to barbarossa. Flesh, muscles and a REAL job! grow out of that view of life. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 76.81.177.144 (talk) 04:22, 12 March 2007 (UTC).