Red Derby Horse Meat Burgers

A restaurant in Ohio raised some eyebrows when it began taking out full-page ads in local newspapers advertising the newest items on its menu: 'the pounder' horse steak burger, topped with four slices of cheese. At the bargain price of just $1.49. Wow. Turns out the ads were a hoax, engineered by an animal rescue group called Second Chance Horse Rescue, and designed by Barefoot Advertising. But although a horse meat restaurant would definitely clash with American tastes, it wouldn't be illegal... at least in Ohio. In Germany such a restaurant probably wouldn't have raised any eyebrows at all, since they eat horse meat all the time. And I have to admit, I once ate a horse meat bratwurst while I was in Germany. I can't remember it tasting any different from a pork bratwurst.

Food

Posted on Thu Oct 07, 2004


Comments

I wonder why eating things other than cows, chicken, & fish isn't as popular in America. I mean, Native American's ate things other than that, & all of the people migrating here from other countries eat other things...I wonder why that didn't carry over.
Posted by Maegan  on  Thu Oct 07, 2004  at  11:22 AM
Maegan must not be from the South. We eat all sorts of critters around here (Armadillo chili, anyone?).
It's illegal to sell horsemeat for human consumption here in Texas, though. Other than the revulsion some people feel at eating Mr. Ed, the argument for this ban is that horses are often given drugs that are not approved for use on food animals. Given the very questionable safety of some of the approved drugs and hormones for cattle, hogs, chickens, etc., though, I'm not sure this is such a sound argument.
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Thu Oct 07, 2004  at  12:11 PM
I am very much from the south, with a long tradition of southern cooking, including possum, soft-shell turtle, alligator, rabbit...BUT...the point I was making, or asking about is: Why isn't it *commonplace* to have odd food served *regularly* in the U.S? You might be able to go someplace and have emu, or another place might serve rabbit. If you were to look for a specialty place in your local phone book, chances are slim that even one location would serve such 'oddities'. My local phone book has dozens of rib joints, steak houses, & home cooking diners, but do any of them serve horse or even lamb? Not one. Even for lamb, you'd have to get to Tarpon Springs, our "little Greece" for a simple gyro.
Posted by Maegan  on  Thu Oct 07, 2004  at  02:36 PM
Maybe because it's cheaper to mass produce a few foods like chicken and beef, rather than supplying a more diverse diet. You can definitely get more diverse foods if you want, but you pay extra for them.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Thu Oct 07, 2004  at  02:46 PM
Hmm, well, I know various places in my city where you can be served octopus, squid, bullfrogs, quail, ostrich, goat, jellyfish, sea urchin roe, assorted spare parts (e.g. brains, tongues, intestines, testicles, etc.), rattlesnake, caterpillers, and any number of other unusual meats, but no horses that I'm aware of. It's true that I live in a heavily "ethnic" section of a big city, though, so it might be different elsewhere in the U.S.
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Thu Oct 07, 2004  at  06:18 PM
Typo!
Created by ?
Posted by David  on  Thu Oct 07, 2004  at  07:38 PM
i had a buffalo burger once in colardo when i was a little kid. The stand said REAL BUFFALO all over it.
Posted by john  on  Thu Oct 07, 2004  at  08:24 PM
Buffalo is becoming pretty common. I've seen it in quite a few supermarkets recently. It seemed a bit gamier than beef, but otherwise pretty good.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Thu Oct 07, 2004  at  10:32 PM
I live in japan. The only country I've been to that eats weirder food than here is China. We eat horse here, when I say we, I mean alot of Japanese and me, a 'Gaijin'. I've eaten it a couple of times. But I don't know why they call it horse meat here, because the animal it comes from is more like a little long haired black pony.
Posted by cameron  on  Fri Oct 08, 2004  at  09:49 AM
I once ate Saucisson d'Ane, which my dictionary says is donkey sausage, in France, and it was pretty good. After all, "you are what you eat".
Posted by Martin  on  Fri Oct 08, 2004  at  10:26 AM
I think it is the French who eat horse-meat regularly, not the Germans.
Posted by Sam  on  Fri Oct 08, 2004  at  03:28 PM
I've always been suspicious of the "Mongolian Beef" that I ate at a restaurant in LA...I ate there on a pretty regular basis and their "Mongolian Beef" tasted faintly of the way a horse smells.
Then I got to thinkin', hey, they don't raise cattle in Mongolia...they raise HORSES!!

From that point on, I've been sure that in some restaurants, Mongolian Beef is horse.
Posted by Gee...  on  Fri Oct 08, 2004  at  04:06 PM
Actually, they do raise cattle in Mongolia.

Why would a restaurant serve you horse instead of beef when it's MORE EXPENSIVE?
Posted by Carl Fink  on  Sat Oct 09, 2004  at  10:56 PM
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.