What does "donkey meat is fragrant, horse meat is stinky" mean, and why don't Chinese people eat horse meat?

In rural areas there is a saying, “donkey meat is fragrant, horse meat is stinky, and you wouldn't eat mule meat even if you were beaten to death.” This saying means that donkey meat is very tasty, while horse meat and mule meat are relatively harder to eat. Some people are very curious: overall there are more horses than donkeys, so why do people rarely eat horse meat? Is it just because horse meat is stinky? In fact, there are roughly the following 6 reasons why people do not eat horse meat.

1. Historical factors

Historically, horses were a strategic resource, with a status even higher than that of cattle used for plowing. In ancient times, horses were part of the machinery of war. Moreover, the Central Plains region was not rich in horses, so horses seemed even more precious. Because of these historical factors, people in our country never developed the habit of eating horse meat.

2. Humanistic factors

Anyone who has raised a horse knows that horses are attuned to human nature, just like the pet dogs kept at home. Eating horse meat triggers associations that make people unable to bear it. Therefore, many people keep their distance from horse meat.

3. Taste issues

Just as described in the rural saying “donkey meat is fragrant, horse meat is stinky,” horse meat has a special flavor, and not everyone accepts this flavor. Moreover, the muscle fibers of horse meat are very coarse, even coarser than those of beef, so the texture is too poor. Relatively speaking, donkey meat suits people's appetites in terms of both flavor and fiber coarseness, so horse meat was eliminated while donkey meat was praised. There is even a saying: “Dragon meat in heaven, donkey meat on earth.” If you run into agricultural problems and don't know how to handle them, you can go to Yun Zhong Yang to consult experts; it is the world's largest agricultural technology Q&A platform. It brings together tens of thousands of experts in planting and breeding, and every question raised gets a reply within 2 minutes.

4. The source of horse meat

Some horse meat does not come from horses specially raised for meat, but from retired competition horses. Because these horses have to compete, they are given many drugs from a young age. Eating this horse meat can cause indirect harm to human health. In the breeding process of other meat-type livestock, however, the drugs used are safe and reliable, and there are dedicated departments managing them, so there is no need to worry about food safety issues.

5. It is said that horse meat is sour, with a very high organic acid content, and the meat is both tough and hard, so it is very hard to digest after eating. Perhaps it simply does not suit Chinese people's appetites.

6. That Chinese people do not eat horse meat does not mean foreigners do not eat it. I once saw a report saying that British people passed off horse meat as beef, because horse meat is cheaper than beef, so within the UK there are often unscrupulous merchants who, in order to make a profit, hang up a beef head but sell horse meat.

Although people in the Central Plains region rarely eat horse meat, horse meat is a traditional food of the grassland peoples, which is determined by historical and geographical factors. The horse meat on the grasslands comes from horses raised by the herders themselves, and there are dedicated cooking methods for it. Friends who love eating horse meat can eat it with confidence and gusto!