Its all horses for courses.

I've eaten horse and love it, and would willingly eat it again, though i'd rather it was a steak than a lasagne!

It's not the fact that the meat was horse rather than beef which concerns me, like you say horse is a perfectly palatable meat. The real issue is if the suppliers of meat can't be trusted to tell the truth about what meat they're supplying, can they be trusted not to introduce unsafe meat from untested sources.? There may be drugs or other chemicals in illicit meat supplies which are not tested for during spot checks because they aren't applicable to beef (like that polybutylene horse drug).

Having said all that, I used to quite enjoy a Findus lasagne from time to time. It wasn't the pasta or the cheese which was the best bit, it was the the bologneighs sauce.... 

Well said Phil...
(edit)
But the Ref to a child now tonight scares me
a little in this word we live in 

I'm sorry but I disagree with Phil on this one. Whether certain animals give you their 'love unconditionally' is at best highly debatable. People who work with animals will also tell you the same about cows and especially pigs. Once you chose to eat meat you cannot pretend that the meat you eat is somehow different. You have a personal choice to not eat or eat as you wish.

My niece for example gets terribly upset if we talk about eating rabbit. I can understand the sentiments coming from a vegetarian but other wise it all sounds like some animals are 'cuter' than others.

Quote from: fried on February 09, 2013, 10:50 AM
I'm sorry but I disagree with Phil on this one. Whether certain animals give you their 'love unconditionally' is at best highly debatable. People who work with animals will also tell you the same about cows and especially pigs. Once you chose to eat meat you cannot pretend that the meat you eat is somehow different.

It is not a pretence, Fried : it is a reality.  Animals with whom I choose to share my home, or my stable, I do not eat (nor do I eat their friends and relatives); animals with whom I have no close relationship, I do eat.  That is the difference, and it is real.

QuoteYou have a personal choice to not eat or eat as you wish.

I agree; each must make his her her own choice.  But that does not disbar those who won't eat (say) veal from seeking to persuade others to do likewise.  We have a choice, but we also have the right to attempt to convince others of our position and of the reason(s) that we have taken that postion.

QuoteMy niece for example gets terribly upset if we talk about eating rabbit. I can understand the sentiments coming from a vegetarian but other wise it all sounds like some animals are 'cuter' than others.

I eat rabbit, and I have no compunction about skinning and gutting road-kill rabbit (and then eating it, of course).  But put a 12-bore in my hand, and a rabbit 20 yards away, and I will open the breech : what I see in front of me is alive and beautiful, and long may it remain that way.  If, later, someone shoots that rabbit and it ends up in my local farm shop, then I will buy it and eat it, because to allow it to be killed for nothing (or for sport) would be criminal -- but I will never intentionally sentence any animal to death.

** Phil.