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Food taboos anthropology
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Despite the notion of horses as pets and companions, horsemeat is widely and willingly consumed in many countries in Europe. They eat horse meat happily and see little problem with the mix-up. However, Britain, much like the US, has traditionally shown a strong disgust to eating horse (Taylor, Adam and Willett, Megan). As with many food taboos, there’s no settled reason for why most americans are perfectly inclined to consume cows, pigs, and chickens however turn their noses up at horse. Horse-eating became popular in Europe in the 19th century, when famines caused several governments to license horse butcheries (Taylor, Adam and Willett, Megan). Nowadays, horse meat is most widely available in France, Belgium, and Sweden, in which it outsells
Around the world it is acceptable to eat certain animals depending on one’s culture. “The French, who love their dogs, sometimes eat their horses. The Spanish, who loves their horses, sometimes eat their cows. The Indians, who love their cows, sometimes eat their dogs” (Foer 604). “Let Them Eat Dog” is an excerpt from Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. The excerpt explains the many benefits to eating dogs and the taboo behind it. The author also uses humor, imagery and emotional appeal to get across to the reader the logic of eating dogs. One chooses to eat meat based on what the culture deems acceptable. Foer questions why culture deems certain animals acceptable to be eaten, and illustrates why it should be acceptable to eat dogs. The
“A Modest Proposal” and “Let Them Eat Dog” have a common argument that we are dealing with over population of humans and animals. Swift uses satire to make us think that he really wants us to eat babies. Foer tells us of people eating animals were not accustomed to. This can put an economical strain on everyone if we don’t use our resources wisely. Both of these articles may be elusive for some to read. Both papers touch on the topics of eating animals, economic issues, and culture.
The use of horses for human consumption dates back to the earliest use of animals for human consumption. Horses are used for food in many counties but are also considered inhumane in other countries. In the United States specifically, horsemeat is not the norm for consumed meat. There seems to be a problem that has arisen. It is suspected that horses being slaughtered at horse slaughtering factories are not the most up to date, pain free for the horse, and human as people suspect them to be like beef kill floors.
American consumers think of voting as something to be done in a booth when election season comes around. In fact, voting happens with every swipe of a credit card in a supermarket, and with every drive-through window order. Every bite taken in the United States has repercussions that are socially, politically, economically, and morally based. How food is produced and where it comes from is so much more complicated than the picture of the pastured cow on the packaging seen when placing a vote. So what happens when parents are forced to make a vote for their children each and every meal? This is the dilemma that Jonathan Safran Foer is faced with, and what prompted his novel, Eating Animals. Perhaps one of the core issues explored is the American factory farm. Although it is said that factory farms are the best way to produce a large amount of food at an affordable price, I agree with Foer that government subsidized factory farms use taxpayer dollars to exploit animals to feed citizens meat produced in a way that is unsustainable, unhealthy, immoral, and wasteful. Foer also argues for vegetarianism and decreased meat consumption overall, however based on the facts it seems more logical to take baby steps such as encouraging people to buy locally grown or at least family farmed meat, rather than from the big dogs. This will encourage the government to reevaluate the way meat is produced. People eat animals, but they should do so responsibly for their own benefit.
Nobody likes being uncomfortable, right? Many people stuff their feelings deep down inside themselves. A good example of this is myself, when I get frustrated, mad, or sad I don’t talk; instead, I keep all of my thoughts and feelings inside. Many times people get nervous or feel uncomfortable and push it down inside of themselves. This discomfort is just what Louise Erdrich portrays in her short story “American Horse,” through the police and social worker when they create a stressful and uncomfortable atmosphere.o This stressful and uncomfortable atmosphere is created through the house search, when Koob and Officer Brackett flirt with each other, and Koob’s sweat.*
This investigation conveyed that equine DNA or horse meat was found in beef burgers sold in a company well known Tesco. It was manufactured as displayed above by Silvercrest plant in Monaghan. This 29% of horse DNA or equine DNA should not be in this product. The investigation continued some of the burgers were Tesco’s own brand everyday value beef burgers. There was 8 burgers in this packet. Horse DNA was found in beef burgers in the UK and Irish supermarkets. This horse meat controversy lead to the Tesco supermarket removing all frozen burgers for sale to consumers from its shop shelves quite quickly and immediately whether they had been found to contain horse meat or not. The group technical director of Tesco made it clear that the presence
Just as the well being of humans, horses have a right to the same care and respect. We cannot just use them as entertainment. But as you will see, sadly, that is not the case. Approximately 12,000 foals are bread for specifically horse racing each year in England and Ireland. And normally only 50% are acceptable for racing. The rest of the horses are either sent to slaughterhouses, shot, or lead in a life of abuse. *(see down below) Many a cases show horse meat being sold as "beef" or "pork". Many fast food restaurants buy the horse meat because it is a lot cheaper, and consumers can hardly tell the difference between the two. It is illegal to sell horse meat as another type of meat. So it is not just awful, but illegal. Have you ever had horse meat? You could have in your “beef” or “pork” (because they sell horse meat as those in Canada) but let’s hope not, because it is poisonous to humans. The meat we eat day to day could be horse meat, and poisoning our bodies. Moreover, years of inbreeding cause the horses legs to be small and flimsy. Their ankles are the same sizes as humans, and their full bodies weigh more than 1,000 pounds. If they can hardly hold their own weight, how should they be able to hold the weight of their riders? Also,...
This destroyed the image set by Americans, a great strong champion reduced to a pile of steaks, or put into dog food. Where is freedom and liberty in that? But, though they excel at it, horses are not just made to run, some horses are used as guides for the blind. Horses contribute so much to society and all that potential is wasted in each horse sent to slaughter. Another cultural reference is the mustang, a strong free animal that roams the range. Mustangs were formerly protected from slaughter until recently in 2005 when a bill killed a 1971 law that prevented feral horses from being sold to slaughterhouses. Now any horse older than ten years old, or any young horse that has not been to three auctions and been sold is to be sent to slaughter. These horses have bloodlines of nearly pure Spanish stock and are an essential part of America’s living history. Congress needs to understand that the American’s perspective of a horse has shifted from being livestock to being a companion animal. For example, in a US survey by the Huffington Post, only thirteen percent of Americans sa...
In today’s day and age, meat is one of the most common portions of a human meal. According to the Census statistics from 2009 and 2010, United States is amongst the leading meat producing as well as meat consuming countries in the world, especially in beef and chicken.1 On the contrary, there is no census on human meat because no one consumes it. Yet, human meat and horsemeat are the same because it is meat from a body that has the capability of suffering as Singer proposed.
I’m an individual of Irish descent who lives in Wisconsin, so there is nothing refutable about the impact that meat and animal byproducts such as milk and eggs has had on my upbringing and daily diet (not forgetting potatoes of course). However, my reasoning for eating these food items isn’t because of necessity based on a dietary need or market constraint. I eat these items because I’m a young male athlete who requires a ridiculous caloric intake and these are the food items that I grew up purchasing, preparing and consuming. The scenarios in which I eat meat now occur on a sporadic basis depending on current costs, meat sources and diet, but are greatly influenced by the food culture I grew up with not by whether it is permissible or not.
Is it morally permissible to eat meat? Much argument has arisen in the current society on whether it is morally permissible to eat meat. Many virtuous fruitarians and the other meat eating societies have been arguing about the ethics of eating meat (which results from killing animals). The important part of the dispute is based on the animal welfare, nutrition value from meat, convenience, and affordability of meat-based foods compared to vegetable-based foods and other factors like environmental moral code, culture, and religion. All these points are important in justifying whether humans are morally right when choosing to eat meat. This paper will argue that it is morally impermissible to eat meat by focusing on the treatment of animals, the environmental argument, animal rights, pain, morals, religion, and the law.
What the American culture is used to is eating three meals with a few snacks in between a day, and two out of the three meals usually involve eating meat. Most people don’t realize the risks of eating meat. Today’s medical experts say that avoiding meat helps you avoid saturated fat. They have found out from studies that women who eat meat daily have a fifty percent greater risk of developing heart disease than vegetarian women and a sixty-eight percent greater risk in men (staff writer). People may not know about serious diseases meat can obtain such as, mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease. In the September 1999 issue of the Emerging Infectious Diseases, approximately 76 million food borne illnesses- resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths occur in the United States each year from improperly cooked or diseased meat (Licher). That is a lot! You can also get salmonella poisoning from meat. People think that the problems come from eating red meat and are opting for fish over steak, but new evidence proves that fish can cause health problems too, risks that can’t be cooked away. This is a growing problem called histamine poisoning (Peck). Children are learning at a younger age that they don’t like meat, maybe because they don’t like the taste, or maybe it’s because they have a fear of eating their favorite cartoon or movie hero. For example, the pig from the movie “babe”.
As humanity becomes more civilized, many of us perceive that eating livestock is morally incorrect, but aren’t we are designed to be an omnivore? Our teeth and digestive system serve the purpose of breaking down animal and plant foods and to bring these important nutrients to every part of the body. Despite the fact that, in 2011, U.S. meat and poultry production reached more than 92.3 billion pounds, the ethic of killing and eating animals as well as the concern of the environmental burden caused by the production of meats is debatable. However, animal based diet is necessary for the human body to function properly and we can choose the meat produced from environmentally sustainable farms to avoid the moral ambiguity.
Let me begin with the words by George Bernard Shaw: ‘Animals are my friends and I don’t eat my friends’. This indicates the ethic aspect of meat consumption. In fact, people often don’t realize how animals are treated, but they can see commercial spots in their TV showing smiling pigs, cows or chickens, happy and ready to be eaten. My impression is that there can’t be anything more cruel and senseless. It is no secret that animals suffer ...
¨Because a handful amount of people eat horse meat on a regular basis. Proponents argue that slaughtering these animals will provide more food for the people.¨ First, slaughtering these animals will provide more food since people eat horse meat on a regular basis. So really there is no real reason as to why we need to not slaughter these horses for food or money. ¨Hence, many don’t see any reason why this should be discontinued or banned.¨ Next, the rest of the people that don't understand this process just need to figure out that we also need food and a fair handful of our population eat horse meat. It's also just really healthy for us to eat and to have. In my personal opinion people should slaughter horses for the food we eat and to help keep the population of horses reduced. Some people say that there are health risks and yes that's true but really the people who are slaughtering horses can just wear a mask or anything to to protect them and not horribly sick.¨Slaughterhouses need people to cut the horse meat. ¨ Finally, people can earn money from the food we eat and they do so much work to provide the meat for us. It also helps when they wear the correct gear and use the correct gear for slaughtering the horses and not catching anything they don't need