November 21, 20169 yr New Louisville Restaurant to Offer Horse Meat Burgers Most people in Louisville are accustomed to going to restaurants and ordering the standard barnyard animals: pig, beef, lamb, and chicken. If they’re a little bit adventurous, they order duck. In recent years, restaurants like Game and Hammerheads have opened up local palates with rare meats such as kangaroo, bison, boar, and elk. With more people becoming adventurous about the type of meat they eat, less conventional types of meat are coming to prominence. In other cases, some meats traditional to international cuisines, but less common in American cuisine, are showing up on international-leaning menus. Now, you don’t have to be Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain to taste brand new, unique foods. A new restaurant, Fork to Mouth, is opening in Downtown Louisville that will test the limits of Louisvillians’ stomachs. When the new restaurant opens in January of 2017, they will be offering horse meat burgers. Some may laugh, some may cringe, and some may be sick at the thought, but the legality of horse meat is clear in the United States. Making horses into meat was effectively illegal in the U.S. from 2006–2011, but President Obama re-authorized funds for horse slaughterhouse inspections in 2011. Fork to Mouth has said they will be receiving their meat from a horse abattoir in New Mexico, one of only a few authorized to sell horse meat within the US. What about the taste? A recent Huffington Post article showed that beef earned only slightly higher taste-test ratings than the horse meat. Some reviewers actually preferred the horse. Horse meat is a major staple in some countries and forms a significant part of the culinary traditions from Europe to South America to Asia. The top eight countries consume about 4.7 million horses a year. The meat has been described as slightly sweet, tender, low in fat, and closer to beef than venison. “It has a slightly sweet taste - like a gamey version of beef. The meat can be used to replace pretty much any other meat in any recipe,” explained Fork to Mouth owner, Nestor Pokrovsky. Jurisdictions which allow for the slaughter of horses for food rarely have age restrictions, so many are quite old. However, Pokrovsky has assured his future restaurant patrons that they will be using only the the best meat for his burgers, with all of the horses coming from specialty farms. “Horses are considered a delicacy in countries around the world, including Italy and Iceland,” added Pokrovsky, “The farm we get it from raises them specifically for meat, not for racing or farm work. There aren’t any of the normal medications that you would normally find in horses.” The use of horse meat in upscale restaurants is not without precedent. Philadelphia chef Peter McAndrews, owner of upscale Italian restaurant Monsu, was sent graphic images of horses being slaughtered and even received bomb threats after he announced he would serve horse meat in his dining room. He publicly declared that the intimidation tactics from horse advocates that had convinced other restaurants not to serve horse would not change his menu. Ultimately, it was a visit from the FDA to all five of his restaurants that caused him to remove the meat from his kitchen. The agency’s inspectors advised that he “stay away from it,” he told Eater Philadelphia. “There is a significant taboo on eating horse meat since many people see them as pets,” said Tabitha Walters, a member of a local foodie Meetup group , “but I have no issues with it. I would love to try a burger or two.” Horse meat is healthier than beef. It’s lower in fat, higher in protein and has a greater proportion of omega-3 fatty acids. Horse consumption wasn’t always so taboo. Just a few decades ago, due to the second world war, horse cuts briefly came back into fashion, largely due to the meat’s low cost. We will see what happens when the restaurant opens in January, but some local animal rights and vegan groups have already begun planning protests.
November 21, 20169 yr Author They're taking "eat local" to an interesting degree. I can't help but think that adding horse meat to your menu in a restaurant that is not only located in the state that is the defacto "horse capital" of the world, but also located in the city that is home to the premiere event in horse racing...well...that takes quite a degree of testicular fortitude.
November 21, 20169 yr Author Also, I definitely think I'll have to give it a try sometime - especially since I live here in Louisville.
November 21, 20169 yr I stopped reading. That lede is just terrible. But the headline gave me the gist of what must be happening. I don't know that I'm particularly interested, but when it comes to food, I'll try about anything once.
November 21, 20169 yr With as much reverence that Kentuckians have for the horse, it just seems wrong to offer them up on the menu in a Kentucky restaurant.
November 21, 20169 yr I stopped reading. That lede is just terrible. But the headline gave me the gist of what must be happening. I don't know that I'm particularly interested, but when it comes to food, I'll try about anything once. What, you don't sit down at the bar and say "I'll have one of your standard barnyard animals"?
November 21, 20169 yr What, you don't sit down at the bar and say "I'll have one of your standard barnyard animals"? Maybe it's the former editor in me, but I absolutely loathe a cute lede. The phrasing is really odd, but it's not even that. It's the complete lack of information for any reader curious after that headline. If the first sentence doesn't tell me what's up, you're doing it all wrong. It's the THIRD PARAGRAPH before she even tells you the name of the new restaurant.
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.