Published in Grok Magazine Issue #3 "Taboo", page 18
Well… technically
speaking, you can.
Mondi di Carne, a butchery owned by Vince Garreffa, is the only one
in Australia that’s licensed to sell horse meat for human consumption – and it’s just down Beaufort Street in
Inglewood.
Unsurprisingly,
locals didn’t exactly embrace the idea of eating horse when Vince started
selling it in 2010. In the first month, he received four thousand angry, raving emails, a couple of death threats, and
even had a crazy protestor turn up in front of his store in a horse costume. People
who had been regular customers for years spat in his face and told him they’d
never buy from him again. His new product made it to local & national news,
which attracted scathing comments from pissed-off animal rights activists,
vegetarians and horse lovers from around the country.
But Australia
isn’t the only nation that considers horse meat taboo. A few years ago, PETA
(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) dumped an entire tonne of horse
shit on the doorstep of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant in central London, after an
episode of his TV show was aired which endorsed cooking horse meat. In the US,
eating horse meat met with a similar abhorrence and is actually illegal in
California.
It’s
understandable that some western countries take this standpoint. After all, horses
are incredibly intelligent, gorgeous animals that have faithfully served us as working
beasts, prized sporting animals, beloved family pets and have even fought
alongside us in war throughout the centuries. In our culture, they’re in the
‘Friends, Not Food’ category along with dogs, cats and sea monkies. You just wouldn’t
eat them.
However, a large
portion of the rest of the planet would beg to differ – 4.7 million horsies are slaughtered per year
for human consumption. Throughout Asia and Europe, horse is just another type
of meat. In fact, in many countries it’s considered as a delicacy due to its
richer, sweeter taste compared to other red meats such as beef and lamb. It’s
also generally leaner, tenderer, and has a higher protein and iron content too.
In Japan, raw horse
sashimi called ‘basashi’ is popular
in the prefectures of Kumamoto, Nagano and Ōita, often served at an izakaya. It’s eaten chilled, sliced
thinly, dipped in soy sauce and usually garnished with ginger and onions. If
you’re a bit of a sweet tooth like me, you can even find horse ice cream if you
look hard enough. Alternatively, you can run along down to the grocery store
and grab yourself a tin of horse spam.
I probably wouldn’t eat that one raw though.
In Mongolia,
where temperatures can reach minus 35 degrees celcius, some of the locals prefer
horse meat as it’s lower in cholesterol and traditionally believed to help warm
the body. Mongolian horse specialties include horse milk wine called ‘airag’ and salted horse sausage called ‘kazy’. Oh, and if you ever visit
neighbouring Kazakhstan, stay away from their ‘karta’ sausage – some types have horse ass in them. And I ain’t
talkin’ about the rump.
Europeans in
particular have developed a liking for horse meat, with fine dining restaurants
often offering it on the menu. In Belgium, smoked horse meat is popular for breakfast
and a common sandwich meat (imagine having a horse-and-cheese toastie)! In
Italy, you can find regional dishes such as salsiccia di equino (horse salami), pesto di cavallo (horse tartare) and pastissada (horse stew). Oh, and if you’re a horse lover and ever
go to France, try to stay away from supermarkets – they sell it in the fresh meat
section.
This is why Vince
made the decision to start selling horse meat. Before he made it available, those
who had migrated to Australia who were brought up eating horse were forced to
buy it ‘under the counter’, from pet stores or similarly dodgy circumstances. The
meat wasn’t subject to health regulations, the slaughtering wasn’t controlled
and was inhumane. Vince has been accused many a time of being a heartless
butcher who doesn’t give a damn about the suffering of horse. But in fact, he
has taken the time and effort to ensure that his meat is sourced from a clean,
safe and ethical supplier that can guarantee that the horses are looked after
before and during the slaughter process. As long as the meat is procured in a
responsible way, why should it be such a big deal? Dogs, beavers, rats, cows,
pigs, donkeys - almost every animal in the world are eaten or have been eaten
at some point, except humans. And even then, sometimes humans aren’t so lucky
on the occasional life-threatening mountain trek.
As a person who used
to want a pony as a little girl, I will admit the thought of eating a horse
grosses me out a little. But as a food lover, I appreciate that everybody has
their own personal taste. I love straight espresso coffee with no sugar, which a friend of mine hates, but then again, the boy puts freshly sliced banana on curry.
My dad has a serious thing for pumpernickel. I have a friend who eats kiwi
fruit skins, and another that eats garlic & chilli sandwiches. My grandma eats
pigs intestines, for Christ’s sake. So what?
If Voltaire were
a foodie, he’d say:
“I may not agree
with what you eat, but I’ll defend to the death your right to eat it.”
