Other than it's a cultural taboo, is there any rational reason why eating cows should be okay, but not horses?

Koreans eat dogs.

Food is food.

Horses were domesticated to be working partners. We teach them to trust us and work for and with us. If it's okay to eat them, then it's okay to eat your kids or your coworkers. Or your dogs and cats.

And none of those are okay.

When humans have working relationships with an animal, that animal is not prey. I propose that those who think it's okay to eat family members and partners slaughter and eat each other.

You can't seriously compare eating other species of animals to cannibalism.

There are parts of the world where horses and dogs are eaten. There are places where guinea pigs are eaten regularly. Are those places less civilized?

when those other species are your partners and/or your family.

the aversion to the thought of eating horse. I once had a horse as a pet. To me that's like eating my cats or dogs. No thanks.

Cannibalism is not in the same ballpark as eating an animal species. Hell, it's not even in the same solar system.

Cattle have served dual purpose as work and food animals, for example. Eating beef, or pork, or chicken but not eating horse is an arbitrary cultural distinction that serves no purpose. Plus it's delicious.

Species doesn't matter when it comes to relationship. Horses are partners, sometimes pets, often family members.

For example, the line of horses out in my barn right now have been in the family since 1945. I was there to bring them all into the world, I raised them, and I taught them.

One of the first things taught to a young horse is to trust humans. Eating them is a violation of that trust, and a violation of the partnership relationship we've had since they were domesticated.

"Arbitrary cultural distinctions" are uniquely human. I'd feed you to the local coyotes before I'd feed you horse; they don't have any, and my arbitrary cultural distinctions aren't species centric. If it's okay to eat your partners and your family members, then it's okay to feed them to others.

that a pig doesn't trust a farmer? Or a cow, chicken, duck, sheep, or any other animal that is born and raised by humans? Your arbitrary cultural distinction is just that, arbitrary - whether by species or role. Horses raised for food are not raised in the same way as horses raised for work and neither is the way they are raised to race.

I am surrounded by farms, farmers, and ranchers. Not factory farms; small farms and ranches. My impressions are formed first-hand.

Since you asked.

You can try to rationalize it all you like. It doesn't negate the moral and ethical realities.

The reality is that it is an animal, it is edible. Anything beyond that is expendable sentiment. If it (somehow) came down to you, me, and that horse starving to death, that horse is a goner.

I love and greatly respect pigs. They are magnificent creatures. That respect extends to the butcher block, making sure to use every bit of that pig in the best way I can. But a workhorse is no good for eating - it is better suited for labour, so I wouldnt remove it from that role when there's plenty of other options.

includes humans. As I said, if it's okay to eat your partners, friends, and family, then it's okay to eat your partners, friends, and family, regardless of species.

I don't think that's okay.

I've heard that pigs are smart and personable; the only pigs I've ever met were at a distant family member's pig farm in the midwest. I visited once, and was taken on a tour. It was a matter of great hilarity that a sow bigger than I snuck up on me and ripped my coat right off my back.

Those pigs, the only pigs I've ever seen outside the county fair, were not partners, friends, or family.

and turned alot of cows and hogs into pets which we later killed and eat.Never had the opportunity to eat horse,but it wouldn't bother me.

I have a hog named pork chop and a calf named meatloaf every year that gets eaten.

I agree with it. It's very possible to care for and respect an animal raised for food. I would wager that pork tastes multitudes better than store-bought for that reason.

The ox was, and is still in many places, an important working animal. What is an ox? A castrated bull. And yet, we ate beef when we were using oxen. We're still eating beef. Cows are raised for milk, too. They, too, are working animals.

The real reason we don't eat horses in the US is that most horses today are kept as pets, not working animals. Pets. In the US, we don't eat our pets, as a rule.

I don't eat beef. I DO eat buffalo every once in awhile.

There have been riots over the issue of eating beef in India.

It's a damned good rule, that we don't eat our pets, or our friends, family, and partners in the U.S..

It would break my heart if it became commonplace and these magnificent animals were then raised on factory farms. It would be a travesty.

So are raccoons, squirrels, pigs, goats, lambs, chickens etc.

Or a moose or an elk or a friggin' pig for that matter? And why exactly is the line drawn at "majestic"?

If a person is willing to eat one animal then it is patently silly for that person to make judgments about the eating of other animals, assuming they aren't endangered. If eating one class of animals is wrong then eating ANY animal is wrong or you're just making up utterly arbitrary boundaries based on nothing at all.

I never stated any differently. LOL.
In wildlife rehab we joke about it all the time. I specialize in rabbits (eastern cottontail and Florida marsh) and can't imagine eating any kind of rabbit anymore.
People who specialize in other animals learn how unique and intelligent they all are and feel the same.
I do eat cows though I think they are neat but I have not spent a lot of time around them. I have a totally different feeling towards horses and just could not.
Just being a quirky human being here.
Peace, Mojo

Start paying politicians to object to this. Lobbyists will be gleeful indeed.

Wall Street is already hedging bets, playing both sides for profit, and licking their chops. Both figuratively and literally.

That was bad... but hilarious.

That was even worse

After 20 years in the military with plenty of port stops through out the Mediterranean as well as Asian I've probably eaten a lot worse than horse. I think it was Singapore where I saw a restaurant with deer penis soup, I passed on that dish.

it is very strong tasting and may be horse.

New, from Ikea.

Sweedish Horseballs. Only $2.95



Note: May contain traces of beef.


Nu bij de Ikea!