"Horsemeat" is a tough sell. Too bad.

Recently a friend posted a link to an aarticle about horsemeat on Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/sites/vickeryeckhoff/2011/12/21/how-many-congressmen-does-it-take-to-screw-a-horse/

I've never eaten horsemeat myself - that I know about. I've travelled to Asia where dog and various insects and reptiles are on the menu at the night market, including cobra, shark fin and a long list of stuff that might turn the stomach of your average spoiled North American. Truthfully, I am not an adventurous eater, but I realize that my tastes are arbitrary, a result of the accident of the family I was born into. I might as easily, I suppose, have been born a Nigerian and have learned to eat different stuff.

In Mexico, they eat goat. I went to a fancy restaurant with some other journalists as the guest of a wealthy industrialist who was promoting a horse show - International Show-jumping Grand Prix. No, I didn't eat horse, but there were ten goat dishes on the menu. I had had some Tequila and was feeling brave. I ordered Grandma's recipe. No kidding. I figured Grandma wouldn't steer me wrong. It happened to be head of goat, roasted and with a delicious sauce. I ate enough of it to count, but couldn't finish. It tasted good but the bones were too identifiable and I got squeamish. yet there are 112 million Mexicans still living & thriving. 

In Africa, villages send their children out to catch swarms of tasty flies with butterfly nets when they are in season, which they then roll into balls and cook to eat. Fly-burgers. Yum.  So I say, if you don't like horsemeat, don't eat it. The Israelis don't eat pork, so what? That doesn't mean we can't enjoy a pork chop. In Indonesia they will eat dog. Don't let your sentimentality cloud your thinking. The Euros have been running their show for several thousand years longer than we have. They know a thing or two. 

Cultural relativism is a handicap. Don't let it get to you. Get the facts, consider carefully, then, if necessary, act. Most situations will work themselves out without interference from people with knee-jerk reactions to anything different from their sheltered daily lives.