Horses and horse meat
About 55 million years ago, a herbivore about the size of a fox appeared in North America, and they were the ancestors of horses.
Horses' ancestors fed mainly on tender and succulent aquatic plants. Later, in the process of geological plate movement, a wider land area began to appear in North America, and the ancestors of horses gradually evolved more slender limbs and robust bodies.
In order to avoid predators, the ancestors of horses became taller and taller. Originally only 40 centimeters tall, they gradually grew to 120 centimeters over time. In order to improve the speed of escape, their three toes also evolved into a single horse's hoof.
Horses are divided into different species according to differences in origin and adaptability. For example, grassland species with short limbs, strong hair, strong personality, and can adapt to the environment of great temperature difference. For example, desert species with small size, small body consumption, and ability to adapt to dry environments. Another example is the mountain species that are sensitive and healthy, bold and careful, and good at climbing mountains and mountains.
Later, human society gradually formed, and people began to domesticate wild horses and turn them into domestic animals. In the beginning, wild horses were domesticated so that they could be used as reserve food. Later, it was discovered that horses could also be used to transport supplies and ride and shoot to fight. Later, because horses played a huge role in the war, they were also used in sacrificial ceremonies.
With the progress of social civilization, war has also moved from the era of cold weapons to the era of hot weapons. Horses have also basically retired from the battlefield and gradually become the existence of rich human spiritual civilization. People get breeds that are milder tempered and run faster by breeding, and then organize horse racing activities as entertainment. People have also cultivated ponies, flower horses and other breeds of horses for ornamentation.
In addition to ornamentation, humans also eat horse meat. Horse meat is very low in fat, rich in protein and multivitamins, and is a very healthy meat. Moreover, horse meat is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which can reduce the viscosity of cholesterol in the blood and effectively prevent hardening of arteries. Moreover, there are iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium and other elements in horse meat, which can protect the liver, promote blood circulation and prevent anemia.
The reason why Chinese people rarely eat horse meat
Horse meat is rich in various nutrients, the taste is also very delicious after cooking, people all over the world are eating, why do chinese people rarely eat horse meat?
In fact, Chinese also have the custom of eating horse meat, but only Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi in China have the custom of eating horse meat. Horses are generally made into bacon in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, which is then dried and stored. Wash and cook again during the New Year's Festival or when guests come to your home. However, most parts of China do not have the custom of eating horse meat, and the reasons why Chinese people rarely eat horse meat are mainly the following five points.
- The use value of horses is greater than the value of consumption
In general, horses play the role of vehicles in human life. Modern horses are generally used as pets and sometimes as servants, and horses with good ancient ancestry are very rare war horses. If you really eat a horse that has been tired for a lifetime, the fleshy texture of the horse is very dry and old, far less than that of young and strong horses. Young horses have greater use value, so most of the horses raised are used as tools rather than food.
- Our country does not have the conditions to build too many horse farms
Only Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi eat horse meat in China, mainly because horse meat is rare in other regions. Because Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia have vast grasslands, the water weeds everywhere can make the cost of raising horses very low, and Guangxi has a better climate environment, so dense vegetation can also become the food for horses. Horses are therefore not uncommon in these three regions.
The rate of meat produced by horses is too low. Horses have high requirements for forage, and generally only eat a few fixed forages. A horse eats far more hay every day than a sheep, but a horse's growth cycle is longer than that of a sheep. According to the growth rate of horses, a horse growing to 100 pounds of weight, about 1000 pounds of hay, and it takes several years, from the economic cost and time cost, horse meat is not suitable as a food source for humans.
- Horse meat processing is more demanding
Chinese have a very rich way of cooking food, but most people will only use conventional methods such as frying, frying, steaming, and stir-frying. However, horse meat will emit a strange sour odor when processing, and if the processing method is not good enough, the made horse meat will have a fishy smell.
Coupled with the low fat content and coarse fiber of horse meat, if the processing process is not handled well, the meat dry wood is difficult to bite. Therefore, even in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi, where China often eats horse meat, most of them will make horse meat into bacon meat, air-dried horse meat, horse meat enema and other foods, and then sell or eat it.
- Human emotional reasons for horses
In the context of China's long history and culture, horse meat has never become a mainstream food. In addition to the greater use value of horses, the difficulty of processing horse meat, and the low economy of horse meat as a commodity, China's emphasis on feelings and respect for animals that have contributed to mankind is also one of the reasons why Chinese rarely eat horse meat.
In fact Chinese emotions towards animals are also reflected in their attitudes towards other animals. For example, although China has historically eaten buffalo or cows, most people will not eat cattle from farmland. Therefore Chinese not eating scalpers is also because of emotional value. There are also man's most loyal friends, dogs, who accompany and protect humans from birth, so the vast majority of people do not eat dog meat.
PLA cavalry
- Emotional value makes it difficult to say anything about the horse
Because horses are running and working for humans from birth, it is difficult for humans to wield butcher knives at horses from an emotional point of view, and horses that accompany humans to the end of their lives will generally die. Therefore, under the influence of various factors, horse meat does not have the opportunity to enter the Chinese table on a large scale, so Chinese rarely eat horse meat.
Do you eat horse meat abroad?
Since Chinese do not eat horse meat, do you eat horse meat abroad? Although Chinese don't eat much horse meat, 4.7 million horses are slaughtered worldwide every year. Most of these slaughtered horses went into the stomachs of foreigners.
Most people who travel to Japan will taste the most authentic sashimi, but in addition to the more famous salmon sashimi, there are also horse meat sashimi in Japan. And as early as the 30th year of Showa, that is, in 1926, there were records of eating horse meat in Japan.
Horse meat sashimi
Because horse meat is red and white, pink like cherry blossoms, and the Japanese believe that the cherry blossoms in May is the best time for horse meat, horse meat is also called "cherry meat" in Japan. And because horses love to be clean and have a high body temperature, there are very few bacteria in horse meat, which is one of the raw materials suitable for sashimi. The Japanese also stew soup with horse offal and make rice balls from horse meat.
In addition to Japan, other countries also have the habit of eating horse meat. After World War II, although Britain was a victorious power, the war made the country heavily indebted, and many people could only tighten their belts to live. Although the British liked to eat beef the most, for the British at that time, people did not have the money to buy meat.
As a result, British restaurants and butchers began to sell horse meat cheaper than beef, so as early as the twentieth century, horse meat was served on the table by the British. In 1948 alone, the British slaughtered 750,000 horses for horse meat. At that time, almost 80% of the horses in Britain could not escape the fate of being slaughtered and eaten meat, and people even divided different prices according to the quality of the horse's meat.
In 732 AD, the popes of ancient Rome issued an order forbidding the consumption of horse meat. But in 1866, scientists discovered that horse meat is rich in a variety of nutrients, so doctors also recommend eating horse meat. So the French government repealed the ban and horse meat returned to the table. But with the passage of time, people are more willing to eat beef, lamb, pork and other easy-to-cook foods, so the number of French people eating horse meat is also decreasing year by year.
French horse meat dish
Although some countries do not eat horse meat much now, before the 1930s, horse meat appeared as frequently as donkey meat on the tables of Western countries. Especially in some countries, like the United Kingdom, there is an economic crisis, and when people can't eat meat, many people will eat cheap horse meat.
Later, steam trains and cars gradually ended the era of horse transportation, and horse meat was slowly served on the table. Even in the United States, starting in the 1920s, 500,000 horses were made into cat or dog food every year.
Horse steak
In modern society, there are many people in Western countries who eat horse meat. According to relevant data, as early as 2013, Europeans ate 80,000 tons of horse meat every year.
Although the sales of horse meat are not as high as beef, its price is slightly lower than that of beef, so there is also a large market. France, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and other countries have the habit of eating horse meat. However, countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland are more inclined to treat horses as friends or pets.
Precautions for eating horse meat
The consumption of horse meat is well documented in many ancient texts, including the Compendium of Materia Medica. The "Rihuazi Materia Medica" says that horse meat is not easy to digest and needs to be boiled more. Moreover, it is necessary to repeatedly wash the blood stains with clean water, so as to prevent the toxins in the horse's flesh from entering the human body. In the "Cure for a Thousand Golden Foods", it is said that people with diarrhea will aggravate the disease by eating horse meat. There are also other sources that say that horse meat cannot be eaten with foods such as ear ears and ginger.
China has the most developed logistics system in the world, and many items can be delivered home quickly after being purchased online. If horse meat piques your interest, you can also buy horse meat to try this less common food. However, it should be noted that there are also some precautions for eating horse meat.
- Note the source of horse meat
When buying horse meat, it is necessary to go to a qualified store to buy healthy horse meat to prevent unscrupulous traders from being shoddy. When processing horse meat, you can refer to the recipes on the Internet, but remember not to stir-fry horse meat.
- Pregnant women should not eat horse meat
Horse meat is rich in a variety of nutrients and is very friendly to people with anemia, liver function, and poor vascular function. But it promotes blood circulation, burdens the heart of pregnant women, and in severe cases can lead to miscarriage. Therefore, it is not recommended for pregnant people to eat horse meat.
- Horse meat cannot be eaten with barn rice
The ancients found that horse meat cannot be eaten with cang'er, because cang'er itself has a certain degree of toxicity, and after eating with horse meat, it will amplify the toxicity. Horse meat can not be eaten with ginger, because horse meat is cold, ginger is hot, and alternating hot and cold is easy to cause gastrointestinal discomfort. The horse meat can not be eaten with barn rice is also because the barn rice is cold, and eating the two at the same time will cause certain damage to the stomach.
Many friends who have eaten horse meat have said that horse meat tastes very delicious, although few people in China eat horse meat, but China is one of the world's largest horse meat producers. And we are able to process and export horse meat, mainly because of the vastness of our country.
In the eyes of our Chinese, whether a food can be eaten or not depends not only on its taste, but also reflects people's views and attitudes about this food. Therefore, whether horse meat can be tasted by more Chinese in the future may change with everyone's values.