Horse meat

From WikiMD's Food, Medicine & Wellnesspedia

Horse Meat

Horse meat is the culinary name for meat cut from a horse. It is a major meat in only a few countries, notably in Central Asia, but it forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many others, from Europe to South America to Asia. The top eight countries consume about 4.7 million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early existence, wild horses were hunted as a source of protein.

Etymology[edit | edit source]

The word for "horse" in the early Indo-European languages is *h₁réǵs. It derives from Proto-Indo-European *h₁réǵs and is cognate with Old Irish réc, Greek ἵππος (hippos), Latin equus, Lithuanian ašvà and Mycenaean Greek i-qo.

Culinary traditions[edit | edit source]

Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, from Europe to South America to Asia. The top eight countries consume about 4.7 million horses a year.

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan[edit | edit source]

In Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, horse meat is a large part of the diet, due mainly to the nomadic roots of the population. Some of the dishes include sausages and a delicacy known as beshbarmak.

Related terms[edit | edit source]

  • Beshbarmak: A national dish of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, traditionally made with boiled meat (often horse meat), served over pasta.
  • Sausages: A food usually made from ground meat, often pork, beef, or poultry, along with salt, spices and other flavorings.

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]


Horse meat Resources
Doctor showing form.jpg
Wiki.png

Navigation: Wellness - Encyclopedia - Health topics - Disease Index‏‎ - Drugs - World Directory - Gray's Anatomy - Keto diet - Recipes

Search WikiMD


Ad.Tired of being Overweight? Try W8MD's physician weight loss program.
Semaglutide (Ozempic / Wegovy and Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) available.
Advertise on WikiMD

WikiMD is not a substitute for professional medical advice. See full disclaimer.

Credits:Most images are courtesy of Wikimedia commons, and templates Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY SA or similar.


Contributors: Prab R. Tumpati, MD