What's contaminated about a horse?

Melbourne Herald Sun, Thursday March 7, 2013

As a healthfood scare, horses have done the full circuit this past few months. In Europe horsemeat has been found in hamburgers being routinely tested in Ireland.

In response, supermarkets in the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden and Norway suddenly dumped huge quantities of frozen lasagne and burgers and other prepared meats.

Then Ikea meatballs were found to also contain horse - leading to their withdrawal from stores in 21 countries. Some may even remember in 1981 when Australian burgers sold in America were found to contain horse, and the whole meat trade was jeopardised for a time.

Well I'd like to ask a question. What is so wrong with eating horse? Now let me quickly point out that I have no desire for it myself. But I am very familiar, on my travels, to strolling up cobbled streets in Italy or China, past modern butcher shops with big pictures of horses on the windows. In fact, in much of the world it is regarded as a gourmet meat.

What brought this to mind was last week's Marketeer about 3D printers eventually producing printed "meat" for us to eat. (I've had a couple of queries: was this a send-up or was it true? Yes, it's the truth.)

So apart from manufacturing meat, what other possibilities do we have for a future with an ever-growing world population and the human body's continuing demand for protein? 

Now this is the unpopular bit. There are a great many good sources of food and protein that go to waste for purely emotional reasons, in this very country. Think of the thousands of kangaroos that need to be culled each year; the rabbits to eradicate; the camels wreaking havoc in the central Australian deserts. All much-appreciated meats in different corners of the world, just not ours.

This is where marketing can weave its magic spell. As it has been doing so for centuries. Think about the way so many of our most popular meats have been disguised through the power of language. It's not a sheep's leg you're eating but braised mutton. Not pig chops but pork medallions. Not burned cow's buttock but roast beef with the trimmings.

We have William the Conqueror to thank for this, bringing fine French phrases to the kitchen while leaving the angle-saxon farmers sloshing in the muck. An early piece of marketing that endures to this day.

Perhaps we can do the same with a new generation of foods. Pastissada di caval does sound much nicer than horsemeat stew. Canada has grown increasingly fond of its gourmet gee-gees, explained by Toronto chef Grant van Gameren: AI call horsemeat cotton candy,@ he says. AIt melts in the mouth.@ There's a Horse Meat Recipe Exchange on Facebook - and scores of other enthusiastic cookery sites.

Our kangaroos are now exported to 55 countries worldwide. Certainly there is still much controversy against the harvesting of kangaroos. But some species are in excess and need control, agree groups like the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australasian Wildlife Management Society.

They also argue that we should base more of our agriculture on native animals rather than introduced livestock. This would then protect our fragile, thin Australian soils from the damage they continue to suffer from the hooves of sheep and cows.

So let's get a host of our animals off the "contaminated meats" list and into the pot, through some smart legislation - and clever marketing. Come on, Marketeers, any ideas?

How about ravioli cavallo? Or kangaburger. Fancy hot possum pot? Or how about a basted Christmas emu? Or a feast around a beach-baked hungi wombat? Who ever said Australia doesn't have its own cuisine?

ray@ebeatty.com