Horse meat is great (if the horse is not too old but that’s like everything). There used to be a horse meat shop in the market of my town and I became nearly addicted. Cow is not half as good and with horses you know they have been raised in the open also.
I think the main difference is that cow milk is considered more useful for drinking (thus making humans already think about cows as food) and that humans have a hard time eating any animal that they’re forced to form trusting bonds with, such as dogs, cats, and horses.
Actually, it’s collateral damage from the Christian takeover of Europe. Germanic pagans (and probably many of the Keltic and steppe pagans as well) sacrificed and ate horse as part of their religious rites. So the Church banned.
In Finland, where the local pagan traditions revere the reindeer rather than the horse, this ban was never introduced and horse continues to be viewed as a completely normal foodstuff. (It probably also helps that Finland is not the sort of place where “picky eaters” is a survival trait for pre-industrial societies.)
The difference is that people can, or could, use horses for transport more easily than cows. More than a hundred years ago, horse were too valuable to eat, but cows aren’t. Just a leftover from the past
Cows were actually more used as draft animals than horses. Because horses, while faster, have a much lower payload per kg of feed, making them much more expensive.
They also have a higher feed consumption per kg meat cost than cows, making them expensive to raise as feedstock as well. (The scale for land-based livestock, from least to most expensive to feed pr kg meat, goes roughly poultry, goat, pig, sheep, cow, horse.)
Ah, horses. In my area of the country we could probably feed small cities with the number of wild horses that starve to death. Unfortunately, we have to ship them to Canada because of our silly laws.
And I’ve never eaten an herbivorous mammal I didn’t like.
Horse meat is great (if the horse is not too old but that’s like everything). There used to be a horse meat shop in the market of my town and I became nearly addicted. Cow is not half as good and with horses you know they have been raised in the open also.
Gyno-Star probably just hasn’t good horse meat. I’ve had it myself and thought it was delicious.
Maju is right, horse meat is really good. And cow are more intelligent than horses, by the way.
I think the main difference is that cow milk is considered more useful for drinking (thus making humans already think about cows as food) and that humans have a hard time eating any animal that they’re forced to form trusting bonds with, such as dogs, cats, and horses.
Actually, it’s collateral damage from the Christian takeover of Europe. Germanic pagans (and probably many of the Keltic and steppe pagans as well) sacrificed and ate horse as part of their religious rites. So the Church banned.
In Finland, where the local pagan traditions revere the reindeer rather than the horse, this ban was never introduced and horse continues to be viewed as a completely normal foodstuff. (It probably also helps that Finland is not the sort of place where “picky eaters” is a survival trait for pre-industrial societies.)
– Jake
The difference is that people can, or could, use horses for transport more easily than cows. More than a hundred years ago, horse were too valuable to eat, but cows aren’t. Just a leftover from the past
Cows were actually more used as draft animals than horses. Because horses, while faster, have a much lower payload per kg of feed, making them much more expensive.
They also have a higher feed consumption per kg meat cost than cows, making them expensive to raise as feedstock as well. (The scale for land-based livestock, from least to most expensive to feed pr kg meat, goes roughly poultry, goat, pig, sheep, cow, horse.)
– Jake
Ah, horses. In my area of the country we could probably feed small cities with the number of wild horses that starve to death. Unfortunately, we have to ship them to Canada because of our silly laws.
And I’ve never eaten an herbivorous mammal I didn’t like.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-21375594
You had predicted the future! 😉