Nowhere357

Caribou don't help millions of kids get free stuff.

Viti

Ditto...it's about personal ickiness factors. I have bonded with horses, dogs and cats...but never had anything remotely like a "hey I love this creature" moment with a cow, chicken, or pig. Cows really almost have "EAT ME, I am not really good for anything else" stamped on their side.

Ensign Steve

Except possibly, "Don't forget to make fashionalbe outerwear out of my hyde."

If I'm not mistaken, the reason they have that stamped on their side is that they were selectively bred (genetically engineered?) over thousands of years to be exactly that: food. Horses were bred to be pack animals. Dogs to be protectors of the home and loving companions. Cats to, um, what the hell are cats good for, anyway?

Ah, well, it's all meat as far as I'm concerned. If Rover and I become trapped in the basement after an earthquake, and it's him or me, it's all over for Rover.

MzNeko

You've got it turned around, there - cats are breeding US to be their personal slaves!



MzNeko, proudly serving her furry masters...

Ensign Steve

Beave, you missed my point. I'm talking about the starving people in the U.S., not some third-world country that is facing a famine or something. There is a surpluss of food in the U.S. Why or how that food does or does not get to the people who need it (which I concede there are many) is beyond me. But the fact is, once the food and the people do get together, there is plenty of high-quality food available, and there is no need for them to "settle" for the broken food. Entire, whole lemon bars and muffins are available to these people. They didn't just sit through an entire Catholic Mass (that's a different topic altogether) so that they could get some broken food they could have found in the trash outside. Maybe there is a bit of a conceit there, but fortunately or unfortunately, in the good ol' U S of A, even our homeless can afford to be picky.

However, aesthetics of broken v. whole food aside, the reason I brought it up was in relation to the OP, which wasn't about broken cookies, but underground horsemeat. It would be downright irresponsible to serve questionable meat to anybody, starving or not, regardless of what kind of animal it came from. And in the U.S. it would be unecessary due to the food surplus that we face.

Egoinos

I have no problem with eating horse meat, personally.

Same goes for cats and dogs. Though I'd imagine cat doesn't taste very nice. Still I'd give it a try, despite the fact that I really like cats. (Has anyone seen that cartoon of a guy going to see a psychiatrist, and being given a cat to stroke, and going off happy?)

I follow some of the others in thinking, if someone offers me cat or horse or whatever, whats the harm in eating it? After all, its dead, I might have a problem with killing a cat or a horse, but not with eating it once its dead already. Me not eating it is not going to make it any less dead, just waste the meat. If the animal has been killed to feed you, I'd consider it insulting to that animal not to eat it, personally.

Then again though, I have no problem with the idea of eating human either. I liked the funeral customs of some race I heard of, who used to eat dead relatives. Personally, I'd rather I fed people I actually am related to/like rather than the worms and maggots after I'm dead. Why should they get my nutrients?! And I'd rather eat a dead relative than have to wash them and lay them out after death (family custom).

Treacle Worshipper

The college I went to for my A-levels runs trips to Tanzania. I didn't go myself, but I remember hearing a story about a group who went. They were shown round the local livestock (goats or something) & were asked "which one do you like?". "Oh, this one (it's so cute)", typical western reaction.

So they had dinner in the evening, spent the night, & the next day were looking round again. But they couldn't see the cute little animal from the day before. "Where is it?"

Of course, they'd had goat stew for dinner...



TW

Salmon of Doubt

lol!

Personally, I'd eat anything apart from cat. No particular reason, I just love cats so much that eating one would just be too nasty. (Praise be to Bast! ) And I'd be wary of eating insects, but once I got over the ick factor I'd be ok to eat them. I'd also eat human if it was served to me and I was hungry enough.

But I'll join AACK any day

Daisy

They're good for cuttling on your lap.

Our local supermarket sells rabbit skinned, dressed and cut in pieces. I thought that would be appropriate for Easter dinner, but my husband nixxed that because he imagines skinned rabbits look too much like cats (not that he's ever seen a skinned cat). Perhaps bunny would be a good substitute for kitten in the kitten pie.

I have eaten whale once - fried blubber. A woman from Yellowknife brought it to a garden party in Toronto as her contribution. It would have been rude to refuse. It was pretty tasty.

Does canniballism lead to Creutzfeld-Jacob disease or does the eaten person have to already have it to pass it? Somehow it doesn't seem like a good idea to eat other people, even if they were already dead, cooked and served on a platter.

The Other Michael

I grok that.

cheers,
Michael