page_title: Food and drink prohibitions
section_title: Horses and other equines
hierarchical_section_title: Food and drink prohibitions / Prohibited foods / Horses and other equines
caption_attribution_description: Smoked and salted horse meat on a sandwich. Photographed by myself in 2005.
context_page_description: Some people do not eat various specific foods and beverages in conformity with various religious, cultural, legal or other societal prohibitions. Many of these prohibitions constitute taboos. Many food taboos and other prohibitions forbid the meat of a particular animal, including mammals, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, fish, molluscs, crustaceans and insects, which may relate to a disgust response being more often associated with meats than plant-based foods. Some prohibitions are specific to a particular part or excretion of an animal, while others forgo the consumption of plants or fungi.
  Some food prohibitions can be defined as rules, codified by religion or otherwise, about which foods, or combinations of foods, may not be eaten and how animals are to be slaughtered or prepared. The origins of these prohibitions are varied. In some cases, they are thought to be a result of health considerations or other practical reasons; in others, they relate to human symbolic systems.
  Some foods may be prohibited during certain religious periods, at certain stages of life, or to certain classes of people, even though the food is otherwise permitted.
context_section_description: Horse meat is part of the cuisine of many countries in Europe, but is taboo in some religions and many countries. It is forbidden by Jewish law, because the horse is not a ruminant, nor does it have cloven hooves. Similarly to dogs, eating horses was a taboo for the Castro culture in Northwestern Portugal, and it is still a counter-cultural practice in the region.
  Horse meat is forbidden by some sects of Christianity. In 732 CE, Pope Gregory III instructed Saint Boniface to suppress the pagan practice of eating horses, calling it a "filthy and abominable custom". The Christianisation of Iceland in 1000 CE was achieved only when the Church promised that Icelanders could continue to eat horsemeat; once the Church had consolidated its power, the allowance was discontinued. Horsemeat is still popular in Iceland and is sold and consumed in the same way as beef, lamb and pork.
  In Islam, opinions vary as to the permissibility of horse meat. Some cite a hadith forbidding it to Muslims, but others doubt its validity and authority. Wild horses are generally seen as halal while domesticated horses and asses are viewed as forbidden. Various Muslim cultures have differed in the attitude in eating the meat. Historically, Turks and Persians have eaten the meat, while in North Africa this is rare.
  In Canada, horse meat is legal. Most Canadian horse meat is exported to Continental Europe or Japan. In the United States, sale and consumption of horse meat is illegal in California and Illinois. However, it was sold in the US during WW II, since beef was expensive, rationed and destined for the troops. The last horse meat slaughterhouse in USA was closed in 2007. Nevertheless, discarded leisure, sport and work horses are collected and sold at auctions. They are shipped across the country by transporters to the borders of Canada in the north and Mexico in the south to be sold to horse meat butchers. The issue of horse consumption in the UK and Ireland was raised in 2013 with regards to the 2013 horse meat contamination scandal.
  Although generally horse meat is also avoided in the Balkans, though not Slovenia, as horse is considered to be a noble animal, or because eating horse meat is associated with war-time famine, it has a small niche market in Serbia.
caption: Smoked and salted horse meat on a sandwich.
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