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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 2 of 10)
Ms. Lotus Nov 26th 2006 6:55PM
Just makes me glad that I'm a pesci-vegetarian (the only meat that I consume is fish). Sometimes I'll eat a bit of turkey, but that's as far as it goes. These articles and photos literally make me sick! And I'm not only an animal lover, I'm also someone who cares about my health -- and most kinds of meat, even those labeled "organic," are not fresh or healthy for any of us. I recommend the vegan guide, "Skinny Bitch," by Rory Freedman and Kim Chernouin, if you want to know the raw facts about the meat industry and why it's better to be vegan or vegetarian.
GeeGee Nov 26th 2006 7:32PM
I agree with you Sul. Comments like barbaric are ridiculous. I've seen whole pigs with apples in their mouths in the US and what is the criteria for what gets eaten? Deer is okay and other animals are not?
Such narrow-minded thinking and no tolerance for other cultures. That's why the country is in the predicament it is in now. It all began with ugly-American arrogance.
Jan Gamelin Nov 27th 2006 8:56PM
I agree with #9. Different people are brought up to eat the animals they have available in their country. We need to broden our horizens. Just because Americans don't eat horses, doesn't mean it wouldn't make a good meal. Just about any meat could taste good if it is marinated when needed and the right spices are added for good flavor. I have tried ostrich. It was served in an American restaurant. I have tried snake and gator too. I am not afraid to try new things. People have their cultures and should not be looked down upon because of it.
pattie Nov 26th 2006 7:04PM
I remember sitting down to breakfast in Holland and having what I thought was proscuitto on my bread! Mid bite... yikes, it was horse.
Beth Smith Nov 26th 2006 7:03PM
Always fun to see mis-information about somatic cells by the vegans on a meat discussion board. All animals contain somatic cells and it does not cause pus in milk. Total myth and lie.
Somatic cells in raw milk are non-reproducing cells that are produced and released by the body into the milk in the udder. They are often referred to as leukocytes. They are released in response to bacterial challenges and their role is to eliminate these challenges. They provide the dairy cow a means of defense against mastitis causing bacteria that may have entered the udder. Their concentration in milk is directly related to the seriousness of such challenges and therefore they have been used for many years as a measure of udder health, both on an individual cow and herd basis.
Since milk is pasteurized and homogenized there is no cause for concern. Only in America does so much beef get eaten. Most other countries live on goat and sheep. Eating fish has good and bad points including mercury and other poisons in it. Fish suffer pain as much as any thing else thats living(if trees didnt feel then why do they bleed sap) Humans were meant to eat vegetables and meat and with proper cooking its all good.
Notsobad13 Nov 26th 2006 7:05PM
Between Vietnam and the Philippines (we're talking early '60s here) I've eaten dog, horse and who knows what else. Heavy spices seemed to help. Not knowing probably made it go down easier.
LitDoc Nov 27th 2006 12:11PM
"One man's meat is another man's poison," the proverb says. Every culture has foods it considers palatable, and others against which there is some taboo. Only human flesh is almost universally reviled, and even there the keyword is 'almost.'
When in West Africa I ate hedgehog, giant snails, and Agouti, a large bush rodent. Had I refused any of those dishes, my local hosts would have thought me most disrespectful and impolite. In the southern USA, many people eat squirrel, racoon, and even possum; in Mexico people shudder at the idea of squirrel brains, but happily eat donkey and goat.
Western Europeans eat rabbit and fish with the head on; fish and sheep eyes are delicacies in other parts of the world. Israelis shudder at the idea of eating shrimp ('cockroaches of the sea,' they say), and the French gag at the idea of eggs for breakfast.
Culture determines what we eat and don't eat. Hunger, however, is the bottom line. I never thought I'd eat grubs until I got lost for nearly a week between Libreville and Lambarene in the Gabon Republic. But I did. Whereas grubs are still not my favorite food, eating them did help save my life.
Cheers to food differences!
amy Nov 27th 2006 5:36PM
First of all,
I think food that is foreign to me is grose! I don't enjoy looking at a potential good plate of food that has eyes staring back at me! Thats grose! Now if I lived there I'm sure I'd be use to it, but I dont.
If they lived here they would say something about are food. It goes both ways, but don't convince me that my taste buds are gonna change. I'm use to all american food! yum yum!
iN REFERENCE TO COMMENT #9
I eat all kinds of food in THE USA! soooo smoke that and stick it in your pipe you International monkey brain eaters...
Kat LePoidevin Nov 26th 2006 7:17PM
First of all, a horse is not a "clean" animal for eating (cows, deer, sheep and goats are). Second, if you eat horse meat with any regularity, make sure you don't ever step on a rusty nail (or anything that could give you tetanus) because the serum comes from horses and you'll have an allergic reaction. Third, I personally couldn't eat ANY animal part which actually LOOKS like the animal...even turkey and chickens look different when purchased already defeathered and with head and feet missing...I couldn't look into the face of the animal, but that's just me. I'm just glad I don't live where horses (and other unclean animals) are served without identifying the meat source...that would be scary for me. Mystery meat is NOT something I can handle.
Barbara Kearney Nov 26th 2006 7:17PM
When I was young, my Dad used to bring back the most delicious sausage meat from Quebec, whenever he went there on business. It tasted delicious, and we really enjoyed it. When I mentioned this to a friend, she told me that we were probably eating a mix of meats, mostly horsemeat. The only thing that bothered me about it, was that I love horses, and it didn't seem right, for that reason. I do agree, too, that I wouldn't want to eat anything that was staring back at me. Eyeeew. Cut the hed off a fish served whole, too please, for the same reason.
Kimmie Nov 26th 2006 7:22PM
I would have a problem eating from a plate with the head on it. but the meat would not bother me mixed into a dish. But I perfer to not eat a horse, simply because I love horse too much. I love tamales made with hogs head. Now whether the following is true or not I am not sure, but a man that use to work with me at one time delivered horses from a sale barn to the loading docks to be shipped overseas where he said they were slaughtered and made into what we call Danish Hams then shipped back to the U.S. So from now on I look to see if the Ham is marked "Danish Ham" or "made in Denmark" on it. Horse may be a regular food item in other places, I just perfer not to eat it. I don't mind trying new foods, but there are some things I just would rather not eat. My choice, I don't condemn anyone elses choices.
nancy Nov 26th 2006 7:26PM
Totally Disgusting!
Jon Nov 26th 2006 7:26PM
Wow, just like Indy and the "Temple of Doom".
Ralph Nov 26th 2006 7:28PM
I agree with Sol (#9) on some points, like green beans from a can, or any other canned vegtable, for that matter. He's also right about adapting to the foods that you grow up with. That's natural.
But I didn't read one word anywhere in the other responses about putting down other people or cultures for what they eat nor any other reason.
If you wish to rant about America or it's citizens, that is your progative. But please, get you facts straight before hand.
I spent many years in the Orient in various countries and have eaten some very, very strange foods I never wanted to identify. Still don't. I have never liked the taste lamb but that's just me. Many people in this country relish lamb. Did you know the the people of Vietnam leave anything on the bones of a rat. I've eaten rat and it's not too bad. In China, they eat and use every part of a pigeon, including the bones and feathers. In Japan, you can every kind of sea creature that they can catch including posionous blowfish, the REAL sushi. Other things I have eaten I won't mention.
In this country and in Central America people think it's a delicicey To eat a hog,s head during the holidays. Served right on the table. Think of a feast with a whole roasted pig, apple in mouth, in the middle of the table or a whole pig cooking over a Bar-B-Que pit. Many in America have this on a daily basis.
Like Sol said, it's all what you are used to eating and grown up with.
Ray Davies Nov 26th 2006 7:28PM
If it walks, crawls, flys or swimd you can eat it. Americans thimk they are much too good to eat the things that keep the majority of the worlds population alive. Some of these things are quite tasty,Especially the insects and snakes.
sylvia Nov 26th 2006 7:31PM
I can't believe how single minded you people are.
I was raised in europe, yes I had my share of strange dishes. But nothing was as strange, as finding rattlesnake on the menu. That was at an mexican restaurant in texas. Let me ask you this, how many of you eat mexican food, and do allways know what is in it?
Robert Ward Nov 27th 2006 8:58PM
What is normal? I have eaten rattle snake and frog legs. Both are delicious. Both beat fast food slop chutes.
mj Nov 26th 2006 7:35PM
I was raised on a farm, and that's when I became a vegetarian. I couldn't accept that the animals that I fed and took care of were then on my plate. It hit me that a living animal died so I could eat it. It just didn't seem right, and that was that. You complain about them eating horse? Did you know that the US slaughtered horsed for years and sent the meat to Europe? It just stopped recently. Did you know that the drug Premarin was made from the urine of mares kept pregnant? That their foals were sold to slaughter? Don't talk about others. We are just as bad.
Ariane Lesmez Nov 28th 2006 4:26PM
See Ariane's comment.
li Nov 26th 2006 7:37PM
You vegans out there.....Look at your lettuce under a microscope....See the little things crawling???? So, in essence, you ARE eating meat.....