[Sca-cooks] Icelandic horsemeat

[Stefan li Rous]

When I replied recently to another message about Nanna's Icelandic
cookbook, I found some info on the eating of horsemeat. Since I thought
this might be of interest here, I've copied it below. This is from
my fd-Iceland-msg file.

> Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 10:22:47 -0000
> From: "Nanna Rognvaldardottir" <nanna at idunn.is>
> Subject: Re: SC - Lefske and Lutefisk Recipes?
<snip>
> You asked about horsemeat. I've discussed this earlier but here is the
> horsemeat entry from my book, which should answer your questions (and no,
> there are no horsemeat recipes in it, although I mention in one or two cases
> that horsemeat can be used for this or that dish):
>
> "Icelanders love their horses and generally treat them well, but they do not
> share the aversion for the eating of horseflesh that most English-speaking
> people seem to have, despite the fact that consuming horsemeat was forbidden
> for many centuries. One of the conditions the Icelanders set for accepting
> Christianity in the year 1000 AD was that they should be allowed to continue
> to eat horsemeat in secret. This can not have continued for long, however,
> and horsemeat was not eaten again until the 19th century, except perhaps
> during severe famines.
> In the early part of the 20th century, the use of horsemeat became very
> widespread but it has been slowly declining again. There are few specific
> horsemeat recipes, as almost any beef recipe can be used. Horseflesh is
> fairly similar to beef, although it has a sweetish taste that not everyone
> likes. The flesh of young horses is very lean and tender but it will spoil
> faster than other meat so it must be fresh."

<snip>
> Nanna

And another earlier message I just spotted:

> Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 01:35:42 -0000
> From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is>
> Subject: Re: SC - Horsemeat, was Re: "cruel food"-
>
>>Is there a particular breed that you prefer?  Have recipes?  I don't
>>suppose eating horse is period, wouldn't they have been too expensive
>>to raise for eating?
>
> We only have one breed here, the Icelandic Horse - or pony, really.
> According to the sagas and other sources, horseflesh was eaten by the
> Vikings; they slaughtered horses as an offering to their gods, then feasted
> on the meat. When the Icelanders decided to let themselves be converted to
> Christianity at the Althing in the year 1000 (well, recent evidence shows
> that it probably was in 999 but we are celebrating 1000 years of
> Christianity next year anyway), they passed a law that the eating of
> horsemeat should be a non-punishable offense, if done in secret. But that
> probably only went on for a few decades. Later, the eating of horsemeat
> meant excommunication and virtual exclusion from human society. There are
> occasional accounts of horsemeat being eaten during famine years (no lack of
> them here) but usually people would die of hunger rather than eat it. Which
> was tragic, because horses were definitely not too expensive to raise for
> eating, not here at least, as they were grazing in the wilderness all year
> round, and cost nothing to raise. One of my ancestors (early 18th century)
> had a flock of around 200 horses, and only a handful of them were actually
> ever put to any use.
>
> Despite all the taboos people seem to have believed in some special
> qualities of horsemeat. Several very old buried treasure legends around the
> country specify that no one can find the treasure, unless he was brought up
> solely on horsemeat and mare´s milk until the age of 12 (which pretty much
> guaranteed that no one would be able to seek it). In other legends,
> horsemeat is the food of giants, or outlaws, and makes them very big and
> strong.
>
> People began to eat horsemeat again in the early 19th century. The first
> "horseflesh-eaters" were very poor and they were derided, even shunned, by
> their neighbors, but this gradually changed. By the turn of the century,
> most people would eat horsemeat, regardless of their social status. During
> most of this century, it has been far more common than beef (I suppose I ate
> about six times as much horsemeat as beef in my childhood) but this has
> changed during the last 3 decades or so; now we eat far more beef. You don´t
> see many horsemeat recipes in Icelandic cookbooks, though, because we use
> the meat in exactly the same way as beef. (Beef tenderloin costs about $40
> per kilo here; steak is maybe $12-$15 per kilo.)
>
> Nanna


--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas         StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****