In ancient times, there were not many scientific and technological products, and people's main means of transportation and transportation were horses and donkeys. Horses not only run fast, but also have great strength, and use more carts and rides; but the disadvantages are obvious, the horse's endurance is relatively poor, and it is impossible to carry heavy loads for a long time.
As another means of transport, donkeys also played a very important role in the lives of the ancients. Although the strength of the donkey is not as great as that of the horse, even the individual driver is very difficult. But they have good endurance and can wade through mountains and waters with heavy loads and hardly need to rest.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > the product of a hybrid of mules, horses, and donkeys</h1>
Horses and donkeys have their own advantages and disadvantages, so people think, why not simply let the horse and donkey hybridize, and have a offspring with both the strength of a horse and the endurance of a donkey. After some hybridization, mules, the offspring of horses and donkeys, came into being. The mule is very similar in appearance to a horse, and at the same time has the advantages of a horse and a donkey, with great strength and good endurance, and has become a very good means of transportation and transportation.
Originally, the important labor force of horses, donkeys, and mules could not be slaughtered. But with the development of the times, some people who lived in relatively affluent life began to slaughter horses and donkeys to taste their flesh. And there is an old Chinese saying called "donkey meat is fragrant, horse meat stinks, starve to death and do not eat mule meat." ”
People eat horse meat and donkey meat, but why don't they eat mule meat? Audiences who want to know the answer, may wish to give the author a thumbs up and attention first, and then start to answer.
From a biological point of view, the protein content of healthy horse meat is similar to beef, and there is less fat, which is a rare and excellent meat, but because the horse's exercise is relatively large, the muscle fiber is thick, and many horse meat is not handled well, it tastes more chai; coupled with the unique sour smell of horse meat, many people are not used to eating, making it impossible to become a popular public meat like beef.
Even if it is not as popular as beef, there are still many people in our country who like to eat horse meat. For example, the Kazakhs, one of the ethnic minorities, have a traditional dish called "bacon meat".
Donkey meat is more popular than horse meat. Donkey meat has a very comprehensive amino acid composition, rich in tryptophan and unsaturated fatty acids necessary for the human body, compared with pork and beef, donkey meat is more in line with the nutritional needs of the human body.
Moreover, donkey meat is rich in nutrients, but also has the characteristics of tender texture and delicious taste. Therefore, there is even a saying that "heavenly dragon meat, underground donkey meat". There are many delicacies made of donkey meat in the north of China, among which the famous dishes "donkey meat fire" and "donkey meat soup" are even better.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > horse meat and donkey meat are eaten, why do so few people eat mule meat? </h1>
For Chinese, it doesn't matter what the ingredients themselves are, what matters is the cooking technique. Therefore, although horse meat and donkey meat are not as common as pork and beef, there are still many audiences in a certain region. But the offspring of horses and donkeys, mules, are rarely eaten by their flesh, and mule meat is rarely sold in the market.
First of all, the taste of mule meat is a problem. Mule meat is said to have the same taste as horse meat, if it is not properly cooked, the taste is very chai, and it cannot be chewed to eat; moreover, mule meat has the same special taste as horse meat, just like the smell of lamb, and the mule meat cooked by people who cannot handle it will have a strange taste.
Some people may be able to accept the smell and taste of mule meat, but in contrast, most ordinary people can not accept, the market value of mule meat is very small, after all, there are better pork and beef in the market, mule meat can not seize market share at all, so almost no one is willing to breed mules to sell meat.
Second, the superstitious sayings handed down by the ancients. Since ancient times, there has been a saying of "what to eat and what to make up for", and the hybrid mules have no ability to produce offspring. The superstitious ancients believed that if they ate mule meat, they would be unable to produce offspring like mules, so they slowly formed the habit of not eating mule meat.
This superstitious claim spread until the 1960s and 1970s, when it slowly disappeared. Even though it is already known that eating mule meat does not affect fertility, the cultural customs cultivated over thousands of years cannot be changed. Therefore, to this day, mule meat is still a relatively niche food, and few people eat it.
Of course, many people are now willing to try the specially farmed mule, the meat of this mule is not much different from ordinary donkey meat, and some areas also have special restaurants that specialize in mule meat. However, mule meat still cannot shake the status of pork and beef.