Is horsemeat illegal in Scotland and if so, why?

[Matthew-C]

As a teen I lived in Edinburgh during World War Two. we had butcher shops that sold horse meat obviously to counter the lack of any other kind,I don't think it even needed ration coupons.My memory tells me how delicious it was.Having said that My Mom (bless her) could cook an old shoe and make it taste good.Many mothers had to perform that particular feat during the war.I don't know exactly how many stores there were,but I know there was one for sure that I went to with my Mother.I hope we were not doing something illegal.

[Mellijelli]

Ok im going to chip in here hope you all dont mind, im from South Africa and here our African people in the poorer communities eat stuff like chicken heads and feet, ox lungs whole or minced, pigs / cow heads and feet, intestines (tripe) and so on, for them they have grown up on this stuff and although it seems quite disgusting to me its natural to them, and its cheap meat so its all they can afford, horse meat iv never tasted but there are restaurants that sell meat like, shark, ostrich and my least favorite dish which is classed as a very local dish and tourist attraction here and that is mopani worms and other weird stuff, its ok if ur just experimenting on tastes and if you come here you can have a real cultural feast of different meats and delicacies.

Our country is not called the rainbow nation for nothing we have 12 official languages here and each have their own cultures and hence the difference in food, its all very interesting i must say.

Ok let me just say i dont like meat in general, ill have a nice lamb chop well seasoned roasted or pan fried to perfection or some chicken with my beloved veg and potatoes, i also enjoy a nice beef curry now and again, but id rather not dabble in the other strange stuff around

I supposed id find something like haggis strange but to the Scottish its a local dish and quite normal, each to his own ey?

[wullie m]

Folks, there's an Edinburgh restaurant selling horsemeat now and a Glasgow one doing squirrel (grey). wullie m.

[Duthill]

Originally Posted by Mellijelli

I supposed id find something like haggis strange but to the Scottish its a local dish and quite normal, each to his own ey?

Do you not like oatmeal ?

[Mellijelli]

If that were the only ingredient yes Duthill, as for the heart, liver and lungs part, well no thanks , do you like haggis? I just think there are so many more tasty dishes to eat you know?

[Phoenyxrising]

Im also from SA, I good many years back. ( i think abt 14 ) I used to live in Umtata, when we moved there we were warned to be carefull of the butchers we went to, as a lot of them sold horse meat, telling you that it was beef.

I almost went vegetarian.

[Mellijelli]

Well i know that the Xhosas eat monkeys and the Sothos eat cats, its true as when we had a shop on the mines we used to see them putting up traps for the wild cats and then they would come collect the bags and carry them home for supper or whatever, pretty gross

Well look at the french they like frogs legs, never tried that myself must be similar to chicken wings or something, well thats what i imagine anyway hehe

Um Phoenyxrising iv been to some locations and they have what ill call open air butchers, wooden tables out in the hot sun with meat on if you can call it meat, all sorts of nauseating innards, makes a person retch really