The Washington times., 1916-01-01
HOrSen1e1t Steak Sir?
YeSSir, h1n1ejut, Sir
New Year Menu in New York Gives Chance for Hip-
pophagist to Enjoy Favo rite Dish Without Fear
of Legal inhibition.

This Is an epochal day In the history
of New York city, marking as Il does
The dawn Of hippophagy, or horse eat
ing, in the metropolis.
On the stroke of 1e last night the
cruel regulations restraining New York.
ers from eating horse meat in steaks,
stews. hash and in other styles were
removed, and lovers of equine flesh
may now give their appetites free rein
in that direction.
While hippophagy will be something
novel in New York, if any horse meat
Is eaten there. the broken bones of
horses in all the historical caves of Eu-
rope leave no doubt, according to Will
liam Boyd Dawkins, a noted writer on
foods, that horse, meat was in use as a
food material in ancient times.
Change of Taste.
The Christian church issued a pro-
hibitive decree against II for the rea-
son that horse meat was sacrificed and
eaten by the Germans in honor OF
Odin. the god of war and victory, and
Freya, q goddess, supposed to be en-
titled to half the men slain in battle.
The present prejudice against the
consumption of horse meat is a remark
able example OF the change OF taste
brought about by a church order
against a belief which has been for
gotten" says one food expert.
Among nomadic peoples, hippophagy
has continued to the present day, ac-
cording to authorities. Likewise. in
China, the consumption OF horse meat
iB an old custom. For many centuries
in that country a special fiat horse
has been bred for this particular pur-
EWA ~. A. IT.
delicate bone structure, savory meat,
and great fattening powers.
Early Danes Horse Eaters.
The first civilized peoples to return
to the consumption OF horse meat were
the Danes. The Danish government,
during the siege OF Copenhagen. in
1907, permitted the sale OF horse meat,
and from Denmark hippophagy grad
ua1Iy spread throughout Europe.
Great quantities OF horse flesh were
eaten in Germany in 1867. and again
in B7, during the hard times when
the people could not AFFORD beef Prof.
Spinola, OF the Berlin Veterinary
School, and Blume, the opera singer,
Of horse meat into countless homes,
and moro than 5000 horses were
slaughtered and eaten in Berlin in 1Sl7.
In 1899, 63,S0l horses were slaughtered
anu GdlCh III anu AVtVot III
lin.
Under the management of an army
veterinarian, 902 horses were slaugh-
tered and cooked in France IN 1856. and
so popular was the meat and its price
that in three years 275S horses were
killed to meet the demand. In 1872 the
number of horses eaten increased to
5.7S2. and five years later mounted to
6,446.
Popular In Paris.
Speaking OF the consumption OF horse
flesh in Paris. q food expert who in
vestigated the subject recently wrote:
During the siege and regime OF the
commune in Paris not less than 5000
horses were eaten. In 1894 a total of
q, 1856 horses. 3S3 Jackasses, and thirty
three mules were sold for food purposes,
slaughtered and eaten. Early in the
nineties 10000 of the 10000 or TOO OOO
inhabitants of Paris were eating horse
flesh"
DIR. Harvey w. Wiley. while connected
with the Department of Agriculture. in
vestigated the use of horse meat as
human food in Europe, and wrote a
number Of articles on II. At the de-
partment today, however, II was said