I ATE HORSE…now I am a bacon vegetarian (part 1)

What is a bacon vegetarian???? Well it is someone who loves bacon so much that even if they are so turned off by every other type of meat they are just too in love with bacon to give it up! So here is part one of a series of stories entitled ‘Now I am a bacon vegetarian,’ about why I have started to have a meat phobia but at the same time can not give up bacon! I think everyone has their own views and feelings about meat so please feel free to share your thoughts!

Part 1: DID I REALLY JUST EAT HORSE?

Well I have always been a meat lover. I have always said I could never live without meat.. even-though I love vegetables, but I get crazy meat cravings. Well right before I went to Geneva I watched a documentary about the anthropology of food and about horse meat culture. I was aware that people ate horse, but I thought only a small amount of people did. Then when I was living in Geneva I saw horse on many menus. It actually put me off going into a restaurant one evening.

After I returned from Geneva, I was hosting a party with a friend. I went grocery shopping with a few of my guy friends. You know how guys HAVE to eat while they shop.  So my German friend, was standing outside holding some bags and eating a meaty snack. I thought it was some sort of sausage, and I was so hungry I did not even ask if I could have some… I just took some. It was alright a bit plasticy… but was food!

And as I ate it, his face looked at me very strangely and because he is such a German gentleman, I thought his face was reacting because I did not politely ask for some. My other friend thought it was sooo tasty that he wanted to go back for some more..I needed to go get olives so we went back into the little gourmet store. As I was picking out some olives, I heard the shop keeper say to my friend, YOU WANT HORSE? The olives fell out of my hand and my heart stopped. Did I really just hear HORSE?! In compete shock, my body could barely move but I dragged myself to the counter and said “that is not horse is it?” And the shop keeper looked at me and said smiling “it is very good meat”. I replied, “is this a joke? Did he tell you to say that? You are not serious are you? It is not actually horse?!”. And she then pointed to the picture of a horse”

My ghostly white shocked face turned red as a tomato with embarrassment. I marched out of the shopping center and when I saw the person who did not tell me it was horse… I screamed at him and almost cried. He did not speak for around ten minutes and then politely apologized in a whisper.

At the party, we served horse..I was NOT happy about this..but I insisted that a picture of a horse with a warning must be drawn on a sign on the plate the horse meat was placed on, so people were aware of what they were eating.

It definitely was the topic of conversation that night, some people were slightly freaked out, some said they could not sit near it as they smelt hay. And others said they did not know what the big deal was about and some thought it was tasty!

FOOD CULTURE

Yes I studied anthropology, yes if I eat cow, why not horse?! Well horses are prettier..that is pretty super-fiscal right?! And I also eat duck and they are pretty! In different cultures people eat different types of meat. And our culture imprints a stigma in our brains that we can not eat certain types of food.  It can be a part of culture and religion. Jewish people do not eat pork, Hindu culture forbids beef as cows are considered sacred.  The Chinese are known for pretty much eating everything and anything!

I have always loved black pudding as a snack, but when I think about what it actually is (animal blood)..it turns my stomach!  Haggis is a part of Scottish culture but when you think about it..it consists of sheep’s heart, liver and lungs..and traditionally is encased in the animals stomach! Along with horse, the French love frogs legs and other food (that some may consider strange) which for French culture considered a delicacy.  In the Philippines Balut is considered an aphrodisiac. Balut is a fertilized duck embryo, which is boiled and eaten in the shell. It is commonly sold as street food and is eaten by prostitutes before they go to work!

INDIA

That is the end of part one..but so far my first impressions…men chanting, skinny dogs, amazing smells along with some of the most disgustingly overbearing smells, rules of the road like the wild wild west..the rickshaw experience is another world..which I am documenting via video and will be uploading soon!  So far I have eaten some delicious snacks made of cashew nuts and peas, and some lovely naan bread!

If anyone has any tips on must sees in Delhi and around please let me know!

I will finish today’s post with a few lines from my favorite story from New York I Love You! “The Christians— they eat everything”….(this story Chaim in the Mood for Love stars Natalie Portman and is definitely worth watching)

You can't eat meat, right?
You Hindus?

No, we are not Hindus.
We are Jains.

Hinduism is too
materialistic for us.

No meat, no fish.

And what can't you eat?
No pig, no shrimp.

What else can't you eat?
No onion, no garlic.

No milk and meat together.
No potato, no roots.

Nothing that hasn't
been blessed.
Nothing too spicy.

It is exciting the passions,
you know.

The Christians--
they eat everything.

They're like the Chinese.

They never have to
spend too much time

picking a restaurant.

That's why
there are no Christians
in the diamond market.

How can you trust a person

who will eat anything?
And here is the trailer for New York I Love You!
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