Last week, food safety officials in United Kingdom, France, and Sweden found traces of horse meat in ground beef sold across Europe. Massive recalls and lawsuits are ensuing.
Can it happen here? Horse slaughter for human consumption was banned in the U.S. between 2007 and 2011. But now, a New Mexico slaughterhouse is getting approved by U.S. authorities to slaughter horses for human consumption, and a Philadelphia restaurant has already announced plans to serve horse meat.
I marvel at our hypocrisy of rejecting the notion of horse or dog meat on our dinner plates, while condemning cows, pigs, and chickens to the same fate. Obviously, we have established special relationships with horses and dogs as our companions, protectors, and sports protagonists, rather than as food. But where is the ethical and logical distinction, given that all these animals are endowed by individuality, sentience, and an ability to experience the same feelings of joy, affection, sadness, and fear that we do?
Fortunately, our health food industry has spared us from having to choose which animals to pet and which ones to eat. Their delicious soy and grain-based meat alternatives are available in every supermarket.
David Rich
Mesa
Leon Ceniceros posted at 12:19 pm on Sat, Mar 9, 2013.
Folks, don't waste your money.....vegan meat-substitute hamburgers taste like u-know-what.
The Good Book says that God gave man...."dominion over the animals".
Vegans....read your Bible and go out and use the canine, incisors and edged molars that God put in our mouths to masticate a ................"Whopper", a "Big Mac" or a "Double-Double".
Leon Ceniceros posted at 12:21 pm on Sat, Mar 9, 2013.
If God wanted man to live on vegetable....He would have given us....a double-stomach and the ability to...............chew our cud.......[wink]
valleynative posted at 2:59 pm on Sat, Mar 9, 2013.
A case based on what a mythical supernatural being intended doesn't hold water.
On the other hand, we've clearly evolved as omnivores. We drink too much milk and eat too much fat, but that's another matter.
There are some pretty good meat substitute patties and sausages available, if you're willing to try a few before giving up. It also helps to prepare them as instructed, rather than just heating them in the microwave.
Cerulean posted at 8:36 pm on Sat, Mar 9, 2013.
I have no personal experience with cows. However, I remember stories told by my parents about growing up on the farm with cows. I have learned that cows have personalities, temperaments, likes and dislikes and the herd has a social order. I agree that the moral distinctions about which animals are appropriate for slaughter and which are not is incoherent.
Andras Forgacs is developing a way to grow meat for human consumption through tissue engineering. You can watch a video about it here:
http://youtu.be/waro4LJDZvU
Rich posted at 9:55 pm on Sat, Mar 9, 2013.
"There is no tenet of any religion
That requires us to love a pigeon" - Ogden Nash
Perhaps we should all eat squab.
sockratties posted at 8:11 am on Sun, Mar 10, 2013.
I don’t think leon should be anyone’s culinary guide since he spends most of his meals eating crow.
Rich… Your suggestion of pigeons as squab is right on. Urban pigeons are rats with feathers. There’s certainly enough to go around for several years and it could save water by reducing the need for car washing.
You can find horse meat in markets all over Europe. I lived for a while in Holland where it is called paardenvlees. It’s seldom on the menu in restaurants, tho. In Germany all kinds of meats are sold in restaurants including Bambi and Thumper, both domestic and wild. Europe has some veggie-meat alternatives that are quite good, too. They are almost like the real thing, not the pitiable soy burger choices we have here. Ours are just a way to sell more Beano!
Has anyone ever noticed how we rename meats so we don’t have to think about what they really are? Escargot, calamari, beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, squab, etc. Sounds a lot better than snail, squid, steer, calf, goat, pig, dove, etc.
While domestic farm animals may develop (at least in the farmer’s mind) individual traits of identity, factory grown animals are “product” and are as alike as nails or tomatoes. Because they are inbred for muscle mass, they have become stupid with little awareness beyond that required for eating and defecating.
Cerulean posted at 8:44 am on Sun, Mar 10, 2013.
sock
Another renamed food is Rocky Mountain Oysters, in Spain they are called huevos de toro.
Bluepoet posted at 9:31 am on Sun, Mar 10, 2013.
I draw the line at the "cuteness" factor, meaning, if an animal is just "too cute", I'll have trouble eating it. Unless, of course, I'm hungry, and there's no alternative...then it's, bye, bye, bambi, I'm afraid. I have seen cattle (not cows, btw...cows are for milk), and they are steaks on the hoof...they are bred for meat and leather.
Horses? I happen to have them on my cute list, so yeah, I wouldn't want to even try that, unless see above applied. I don't like dolphin in my tuna, either...What I don't like, as far as the issue at hand, is when it's palmed-off as something else. That is alarming, on several levels...
Vegetarians and the like? Ok, fine, if that's what floats your boat, but, you do realize that you're killing living things, too, right? Why should the screams of tomatoes being ripped from their vines be any less horrible than animals? Are you sure they aren't "sentient"?[innocent]
sockratties posted at 10:12 am on Sun, Mar 10, 2013.
Cerulean... In spain they're from bulls (toros). In Colorado they're from goats, originally Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep but in restaurants, usually sheep because sheep are farmed and Mountain Goats and Big Horn Sheep can’t be hunted commercially. They are on the menu at Rawhide Steakhouse here in the East Valley. They also have rattlesnake which really does taste like chicken.
chatmandu002 posted at 11:14 am on Sun, Mar 10, 2013.
David,
Sorry you vegan's don't understand that the human mouth and digestive system can handle meat as a source of nutrition. There are millions of people around the world that would love a chance at a good old horse steak for dinner just to live.
VofReason posted at 12:58 pm on Mon, Mar 11, 2013.
Hmm, wonder why other animals eat eachother? Here is something, if fake meat was so good, why don't people buy it? Why is it put into it's own little section and yet there is 20% of the store devoted to the butcher. If you don't want to eat meat, don't. But telling other people not to because someone in another country eats meat that we don't just makes you look silly.
Ateam1 posted at 3:13 pm on Tue, Mar 12, 2013.
sock and ceru: Are spending there time arguing over who eats some other anmal's Private Parts! Just goes to show what this Bunch of Liberals are all ABOUT! NUTS!!!LOL![beam]
sockratties posted at 9:14 am on Wed, Mar 13, 2013.
At1 should be spending time in grammar and spelling classes instead of drooling over culinary suggestions. It’s hard to see how someone can make so many mistakes in such a small comment. Must be consuming too much of the Tea Party fertilizer.
[tongue]
Ateam1 posted at 6:14 pm on Wed, Mar 13, 2013.
sock: Here you go again. Nothing but stupidity. Are we on here for one little typo.? I'll tell you what! You be the the grammar king! How's that? Nothing else that you and the rest of your socialist/dictator bunch makes sense.PHOOEY![thumbdown]
VofReason posted at 1:03 pm on Fri, Mar 15, 2013.
Question. Why do they try to make fake meat look like and taste like real meat? And why do vegetarians always tell you how much their fake food really taste like the real stuff. Strangly, people have been eating the real stuff for all of mankind. To anything there is a healthy balance. Most (real) doctors will tell you that meat products in correct proportions are part of a healthy diet- right?
sockratties posted at 7:01 pm on Sat, Mar 16, 2013.
VoR... many people who like and eat meat have been cautioned to limit their intake of cholesterol. Since beef, pork and prepared meats like sausages are high in cholesterol, substitutes help fill the void. Some people are unable to digest meats because of medical reasons although they have no moral or political objections.