ALMATY/Kazakhstan, JULY 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Globally, eating horses is controversial. The Italians, Dutch, Brazilians and French traditionally enjoy horsemeat, but in the United States it is highly taboo.

Americans balk at the idea of eating the animals that helped to settle the West. Horses have not been killed for human consumption on US soil since 2007.

In Britain, the so-called “horsegate” outcry of 2013, when supermarket burgers and sausages were found to contain large amounts of horsemeat, reviled British sensibilities triggering an avalanche of criticism over food security.

But in Kazakhstan, with its culture so heavily entwined with a traditional nomadic way of life, horsemeat is still very much seen as a delicacy and a status symbol.

At midday in Almaty’s Green Bazaar, the counters selling horse meat were doing brisk trade. Vendors slammed lumps of horse onto old sky-blue weighing scales to count the kilos.

Aisha, who was 43-years-old and a mother of four children, hovered over a table packed with cuts of horse. Intestines and ribs glistened next to prime rump.

Saiyan, the owner of the stall, said that she sells Aisha her fresh horsemeat three times a week. The horse meat cost 2,200 Tenge ($12) a kilo.

Dressed in a white trouser suit and yellow snakeskin shoes Aisha inspected the different cuts.

“My family eats a small amount of horse meat every day,” she said. “We don’t suffer from any flu or illness. This is why we eat it, for good health.”

Horsemeat in the Green Bazaar, however, is twice the price of lamb in the main markets. It might be beneficial to health and cherished by Kazakhs, but it is only obtainable to a privileged few.

 ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 190, published on July 2 2014)