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Eating Horse
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I've had my share of suspect meat throughout my travels and have learned to live by the Mystery Meat Rule of Ignorance: Don't ask and assume it is cow.
I ate a lot of meat in Kazakhstan a few years ago and for the most part, enjoyed whatever I found on my plate. Sure, the meat was a bit strange at times, but hey, it must Kazakh cow!
I don't recall, however, eating the most famous plate of meat in Kazhakstan, the national dish of beshbarmak. Had I done so, I would have known immediately it wasn't my friend the cow.
According to a Reuters article by Michael Steen, Beshbarmak actually comes from at least two, and perhaps even more, four-legged animals; the horse and the lamb. More specifically, it is stewed horse head, lamb, and liver. Apparently the liver can come from a variety of different creatures, hoofed or otherwise. The photo above includes beshbarmak served with the ever popular side dish of koybas: a boiled sheep's head.
The good news is that if the barnyard found on your plate tastes a bit funny, you can always wash it down with a swig of Kumys. That's fermented mare's milk for all you non-Kazakhs out there.
Filed under: Food and Drink, Kazakhstan
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
JT Nov 26th 2006 7:34PM
I have had many an exotic dish in my life. Some bad some very good. But I will never be able to eat that which is staring back at me from the plate. That just plain wacked!
Nancy Nov 26th 2006 6:23PM
That is so nasty... I would get sick if I saw a goats head on my plate as they brought it out... yuck, and eating horse. no way, I like venison (deer meat) but eating horse is going too far.
JoBeth Nov 26th 2006 6:27PM
OH YUCK!!! Makes me glad I live in America where the food is what I call 'normal'! The thought of a boiled horsehead or a boiled sheeps head on my plate, well, I am afraid I would have to hurl!!
mary Nov 26th 2006 6:27PM
One word: BARBARIC.
Vincent Mack Nov 26th 2006 6:28PM
Just returned from a 80 day job in Saudi Arabia and I would agree totally with you, just try to think beef, beef, beef when eating something that doesnt taste right, I stuck with chicken more often than not, it tastes almost like home.
Leslie Nov 26th 2006 6:29PM
When in Rome...but how can you eat it if you can look it in the face as it's served?
Beverly Nov 26th 2006 6:29PM
I've had kangaroo, zebra, ostrich, and giraffe; all of which were good as long as I didn't think too much about what I was consuming. But whatever the meat was that we often were served "as beef" in Syria was horrid and gags me still just thinking of it!!
Eric R. Luna Nov 26th 2006 6:38PM
I lived in Europe for a few years (20 years ago) - on one trip to England I decided to have a hamburger, my mother cautioned me that the beef there was not that good, but I had it any way.
Well after about two bites, I had to walk back in to the 'cafe' and ask if the cow had died of old age perhaps. 'Cow? No sir, that is horse'
Very lean, sort of tough - I don't really reccomend it... but like anything, I am sure it is an aquired taste.
Goat and Lamb are pretty good - try a good Indian restaurant sometimes.
Eric R. Luna
EZeats Nov 26th 2006 7:37PM
usually, i'd just stick to seafood, if possible or vegetarian always works too. somehow, something that's staring at me just isn't appetizing. if i cant have the above two, just don't ask. fortunately, i haven't had to cross that bridge just yet.
tabbycat Nov 26th 2006 6:41PM
I would not eat food that can stare back at me. Yuck! And I love horses so I wouldn't be able to eat one.
Sul Nov 26th 2006 6:41PM
Get real, people! So eating horse is gross but eating cow is great? Plenty of Americans eat veal--aren't baby calves too cute to eat? Why is it okay to eat an animal's ribs or leg or butt, but not its head? Why is THAT "barbaric?" How can someone say eating deer is fine, but eating horse is not? And by the way, what animal parts do you think go into hot dogs and sausages? How is that less gross than the dish you see in the picture above? Open your minds, Americans. Just because someone eats a different part of the animal than you do, or a different animal than you do, doesn't mean they are gross and wrong and that YOU eat the only right way there could possibly be to eat on the planet. We all start out eating the way we we were raised to eat in our own family and culture. Hopefully, as adults, we grow from there and learn to try other cuisines, and respect them! I'd sooner try a horse head, personally, than so-called "normal" all-American green beans out of a can! : )
Sheri Nov 27th 2006 4:02PM
I too would not be able to eat something so "foreign"
What is normal food in The United States is just that.
Many foreign countries rely on what is available to eat just like we do here. Some countries consider beetles and bugs delicacies,some eat bats, monkey brains,etc. and that's how their people survived because that was what was available. I believe in Vietnam, dog is considered food. Yes, we gag at what is considered food in other countries, but i'm sure when these people come here they do too at our food supply.
vincent Nov 26th 2006 6:45PM
wasnt a horsehead punishment in the godfather?
suzanne Nov 26th 2006 7:26PM
iS that where are horses are going?
Ray Hamerly Nov 26th 2006 6:52PM
Back in the fifties we had a horse meat market in town. Was cheaper than beef, the roasts were good, the steaks tough, hamburger ok But the stew meat was better than beef, more flavor
Nik Nov 26th 2006 6:52PM
We should never say that just because it is different from what we consider "normal," it is barbaric! Have you ever read "The Jungle?" It has a lot of interesting information about our food packing industry back in the 20's.
You might say "well that's back then.." but think of it this way.. Most of our food comes from other countries, places that don't have an FDA. Our chocolate, for example, mostly comes from the Ivory Coast from Africa. The Cocoa beans in transit from their country to ours have mice and rats crawling around in them, so there is a great deal of rodent feces in the beans. Obviously, you can't tell the difference between a small black bean and mouse poo, so the US FDA allows a larger percentage of rodent feces in chocolate than in other items.
If you've ever seen how our animals here are butchered for food, you would never call the rituals of animal slaughter in other countries "Barbaric." At least they have some kind of ritual attached. We just kill animals by the thousand, whether they're sick or healthy.
One last image to put into your mind.. think about the cow's milk you or your children drink. Milk contains what is called "somatic" cells in it, which is what pus is made from. Cows' udders become infected from all of the milking, causing their bodies to produce a large amount of pus, which comes out along with the milk. If you're interested, you can look up just how many somatic cells there are in each ounce of your milk by doing a search on the internet. You will be shocked.
So Americans drink pus in their cow's milk, eat feces in their chocolate.... Who is barbaric now?
Bunny Peters Nov 26th 2006 6:54PM
Wow!!! I am very happy to be a vegetarian :)
Jim Nov 26th 2006 6:54PM
A previous poster said "Makes me glad I live in America where the food is what I call 'normal'". Precisely!!! You are an American so you think American food is normal. A Kazhak thinks horse and sheep head is normal. Just keep in mind that your stomach doesn't care. I'll have to admit there are a few things that make me squeamish (bugs), even after eating some pretty bizarre stuff, but is there really much difference between a cow and a horse?
Paul Luna Nov 26th 2006 6:54PM
Be careful I here you can get a little horse afterword
AMY Nov 26th 2006 6:58PM
well at least your not picking out you own rats and decided how you want them done like they do in china..or many eating dog or cat.... people in china eat some really nasty stuff! do some research and you'll see