TNR: Addressing the horsemeat 'scandal' and cultural divides

[freddymo]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Rather fascinating piece in The New Republic offering a brief history of and levels of acceptance of horsemeat around the world. Makes many salient points that go beyond the horse-as-meat issue..

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/1...kea-delicious#

And so we came to eat not cow, but beef (boeuf), not pig, but pork (porc), not lamb, but mutton (mouton), not calf, but veal (veau). It is a pretension and a prudishness that we have internalized and unconsciously propagate to this day.

For some reason, non-vegetarian Americans can live with this nonsensical ethical code. Cows, chickens, pigs—we feast on their flesh without wincing or imagining them marching into the slaughterhouse, their lives racing before their big, dumb eyes. But tell them that there may be some horse in their dead cow patty, and you get theatrical retching and indignation.

Been saying this for ever.