The other red meat

[gallantwarrior]

One of Canada's major exports to the Far East is horse meat. They ship it on-the-hoof so it's much fresher when slaughtered. While living in Europe, I regularly visited the horse butcher shop. Horse meat is the next best thing to venison, lean, red, and much healthier than the crap big agri-business foists off on the American public.

Part 1: The Pros and Cons of Horse Slaughter | News, Sports, Weather for Great Falls, Helena, and all of Montana | Local Top Stories

 

[Truthmatters]

They can now make meat in a petri dish

 

[gallantwarrior]

Yeah, and they make all kinds of GMOs, do you really want to eat genetically modified crap?

 

[lizzie]

One of the reasons Americans don't eat horse, I would assume, is because it's much more expensive to raise and bring to market. In this part of the country, you need 1 acre to feed a cow, and 5 to feed a horse. When you're raising animals for food, this has to be taken into account.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Probably true, Lizzie.
I don't keep horses because of the expense. We also have some pretty interesting taboos regarding animals. There are many places where dog and cat meat is quite common. Horses, like dogs and cats, are more often kept as pets here. The Chinese relish horsemeat and pay premium prices for it. Since they have begun modernizing their economy, more people can afford horsement. Canada takes advantage of that fact and ships hundreds of horses to China daily.

 

[lizzie]

Hmmm- that's interesting. I had no idea that the Chinese liked to eat horsemeat. How does the taste compare to beef and venison?

 

[eots]

dutch eat a lot of horse

 

[eots]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKodp-Z5AlA]Horse steak recipe and horse meat investigation - The F Word - YouTube[/ame]

 

[gallantwarrior]

Hmmm- that's interesting. I had no idea that the Chinese liked to eat horsemeat. How does the taste compare to beef and venison?

Most Americans would consider it too dry because it hasn't the marbling that our beef usually has. It's much more like venison (deer or moose) than anything else. I like it because it has so much less fat and when you can get it, it's like grass-fed beef, lean with much less fat. Horse makes great sauerbraten.

 

[Unkotare]

I had some nice, fresh, raw horse meat in an izakaya in Toyohashi once. It was quite good.

 

[techieny]

 

[lizzie]

Hmmm- that's interesting. I had no idea that the Chinese liked to eat horsemeat. How does the taste compare to beef and venison?

Most Americans would consider it too dry because it hasn't the marbling that our beef usually has. It's much more like venison (deer or moose) than anything else. I like it because it has so much less fat and when you can get it, it's like grass-fed beef, lean with much less fat. Horse makes great sauerbraten.

But is it good on the grill? lol (joking around)

I eat a good amount of venison and wild hog- both are low in fat and about as "natural" as you can get without paying through the nose. These horses that are being sold to China for slaughter- what is their primary diet?

 

[Ringel05]

Yeah, and they make all kinds of GMOs, do you really want to eat genetically modified crap?

Nope!

 

[gallantwarrior]

Hmmm- that's interesting. I had no idea that the Chinese liked to eat horsemeat. How does the taste compare to beef and venison?

Most Americans would consider it too dry because it hasn't the marbling that our beef usually has. It's much more like venison (deer or moose) than anything else. I like it because it has so much less fat and when you can get it, it's like grass-fed beef, lean with much less fat. Horse makes great sauerbraten.

But is it good on the grill? lol (joking around)

I eat a good amount of venison and wild hog- both are low in fat and about as "natural" as you can get without paying through the nose. These horses that are being sold to China for slaughter- what is their primary diet?

I think the Chinese eat whatever they can get. There are a lot of Chinese. It also depends on where they live, too, I think. Actually, I know several Chinese immigrants, I'll ask them and try to get back to you.
I hunt when I can, butcher my own livestock when I can't hunt. Either way, I know what I'm eating. Same thing with the veggies. What I don't grow myself, I try to buy locally. As far as GMOs are concerned, I even try to buy feed that does not have any GMOs. Those things are fearfully dangerous and most people don't even know about them. And the big producers, like Monsanto, have purchased enough government representation that we cannot even force the government to require that a food's GMO status be part of the labeling.

 

[Zander]

I doubt I would eat horse. But with the right sauce anythings possible!

 

[Unkotare]

Most Americans would consider it too dry because it hasn't the marbling that our beef usually has. It's much more like venison (deer or moose) than anything else. I like it because it has so much less fat and when you can get it, it's like grass-fed beef, lean with much less fat. Horse makes great sauerbraten.

But is it good on the grill? lol (joking around)

I eat a good amount of venison and wild hog- both are low in fat and about as "natural" as you can get without paying through the nose. These horses that are being sold to China for slaughter- what is their primary diet?

I think the Chinese eat whatever they can get. .

*ahem*

I think he was asking what the primary diet of the horses is...

 

[gallantwarrior]

The horses from Alberta are raised on grass. What other horses are raised on, I cannot say.

 

[lizzie]

I doubt I would eat horse. But with the right sauce anythings possible!

Hah!
When I was very young, I worked for a wildlife preserve, and we fed the lions and other large cats horse meat (I'm assuming from old and injured horses being put down). I used to carry 5 gallon bucketfuls at a time and toss the steaks into the display where the juvenile lions stayed. I remember that it didn't have any appreciable difference in smell and appearance from beef, and I always wondered if it tasted about the same.

 

[lizzie]

I think the Chinese eat whatever they can get. There are a lot of Chinese.

I'm sure you're probably right about that, lol.
That's one of the reasons I was surprised that they can afford to buy horse meat.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Lions didn't care, did they?