Freedom to Eat What You Want!

Friday, March 29^th, 2013

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

GIVE ME THE FREEDOM EAT HORSEMEAT!

One would think that members of congress would have a number of critical issues to keep them occupied.  The federal budget needs major trimming, immigration is now on the front burner, chaos continues to be prevalent throughout the Middle East, healthcare is still unaffordable for millions of Americans and gun control has engulfed the nation in a critical legislative fight.  But that apparently is not enough on the congressional plate.  A handful of U. S. Senators, led by my home state’s Mary Landrieu, brought to the forefront last week in the nation’s capitol a burning issue that affects the lives of all Americans-horsemeat.

Landrieu haw been joined by South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham in sponsoring legislation to ban the consumption of horsemeat and prohibit the export of horses for that purpose. Graham regularly joins other senators in a number of quixotic causes.  You may recall that he most recently labeled those who do not give the President free reign to be the judge, jury and execution in certain criminal cases to be “Wacko Nut jobs.”  So Landrieu has found a worthy ally in her cause to regulate American taste buds.  

Landrieu and Graham argue that horses are great companions and that, in Landrieu’s words “there is no humane way to slaughter a horse.”  I guess as opposed to wringing a chicken’s neck, taking a sledgehammer to a cow, or pumping 100,000 volts into a death penalty recipient.

Graham’s opposing the eating horsemeat has little downside if you come from South Carolina.  Wit all due respect to the Gamecock nation, Graham’s constituents are not noted for having a creative pallet.  But Landrieu is a different story.  How can I say this delicately about my homefolks?  We eat anything in the Bayou State.  Horsemeat, quite frankly, is rather a tame choice. How much do we live to eat a real variety of Cajun delicacies?  Let me count the ways.

There is a festival build around food practically every weekend in some part of Louisiana. Horsemeat pales in comparison to a variety of the local cuisine. Here are a few culinary indulgences you just might want to try.  There is the normal fare of food items that appear on local restaurant menus.  Alligator sauce picquante, a variety of crawfish choices, grilled rabbit, squirrel stew, venison goulash, nutria chili, possum fajitas, mountain oysters (cow’s testicles), and my personal favorite, smoked raccoon.  Some years back, I spent the better part of a day with former Louisianan Gov. Jimmy Davis (“You are my Sunshine”), whipping up coon stew.  So a little horsemeat would be a piece of cake.

Is eating horsemeat really all that unique?  Not at all.  In fact, consuming horsemeat is rapidly growing in countries worldwide.  Horsemeat burgers are the current rage I pubs all across England.  The Brits have finally learned to spice up their food, and horseburgers are served with a fried egg, pickles, cheese, onion, lettuce, black pepper, mayonnaise and a bit of ketchup thrown into the mix.  Sounds tasty to me.

You can find horsemeat all over Europe in butcher shops, supermarkets and restaurants.  In France, Belgium and Sweden, horsemeat outsells mutton and lamb combined.  The demand has grown so big in Italy, Butcher shops are having a hard time keeping “ Carne di Cavallo” in stock.  In France, the mother load of food delicacies, they even have a horse–meet butchers organization called Federation de la Boucherie Hippophagique.

Horses have always been a past of the military diet throughout history. From the Romans in the first century to Genghis Khan in the 13^th century, the horse was a multiple staple of support.  Many warriors traveled with three or four horses each that provided milk, blood and finally meat to fuel the armies.  Back in the U.S., horse steak used to be on the menu of the Harvard faculty club.  So even the intellectuals had no problem with “hippophagy.”  (Eating horsemeat.)

Certainly, many Americans have a special affection for horses. But we have to face the fact that all horses eventually have to be disposed of. And the same horses that would be slaughtered in the US under strict guidelines are being shipped to other countries, and both treated and killed in far more cruel ways.  So the Humane Society’s concerns over the non-cruel disposal of horses just doesn’t hold water.

Doesn’t it really all come down to an individual’s right to make their own choices, and not be dictated by politicians in Washington?  There is no safety or security issue involved.  You might not choose to buy or eat horsemeat.  But should your choices be dictated by your government?  Economist Tomas Sowell put it this way. “The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.” 

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These politicians, in their wisdom, have concluded that it’s OK to eat Porky Pig, Donald Duck, Bambi, Bugs Bunny, and even the goose that laid the golden egg.  But please, please don’t mess with Mr. Ed.

  This issue goes far beyond eating horsemeat.  Sorry Senators.  We do not need you deciding what’s best for us.  When a politician begins superimposing their beliefs on others in an arbitrary way, there is a special name for this repugnant action.  And it sure as heck is not Freedom.

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"If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls who live under tyranny." -- Thomas Jefferson

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown