Jedla sem konjsko meso.
V ZDA so konji kot ljubljenčki. Obožujemo jih. Vzgajamo jih, treniramo, jim dajemo imena in starše, ko smo še otroci, ob rojstnih dnevih in božičnih praznikih prosimo zanje. Konji so še posebej priljubljeni in ljubljeni v državi, od koder prihajam. V srednji šoli so številne moje prijateljice in znanke trenirale ježo, ena mojih dobrih prijateljic ima celo pet ali šest konj. Ko sem obiskovala osnovno šolo, sem teden dni preživela v »konjeniškem kampu«, kjer sem se naučila konja osedlati, ga negovati in seveda tudi jezditi. (V glavnem bi samo rada, da veste, kako zelo rada imam konje, da bi si lažje predstavljali čustva, ki so me prevevala, ko sem ugriznila v enega mojih prijateljev.)
V mnogih drugih delih sveta zunaj ZDA je uživanje konjskega mesa povsem običajno. Pravzaprav je te vrste meso mnogo kje specialiteta. Bilo naj bi bolj zdravo od govedine. Vsebuje manj maščob in mnogi ljudje so prepričani, da je odličnega okusa (kot moj oče, izdajalec).V ZDA imamo prirojen odpor do uživanja konjskega mesa. Tudi če bi ga lahko jedli, tega ne bi hoteli. A ga ne smemo. Leta 2013 je nekaj finih restavracij po državi na jedilnik dodalo konjsko meso in razburjenje je bilo ogromno. Šef kuhinje ene od njih je prejel celo grožnje, da bodo v njegovo restavracijo nastavili bombo, če ne bo takoj odstranil konjskega mesa z menija. (Očitno obstajajo taki, ki menijo, da je zaščita konje vredna kaznivega dejanja.) Konjsko meso se pričakovano ni dolgo obdržalo v restavracijah. Vmešal se je kongres in prepovedal klanje konj v Združenih državah. Zato, vidite, uživanje te vrste mesa v ZDA ni mogoče. (Niti pravzaprav nikogar ne mika.)
Če sem iskrena, ko sem se odpravila na konjski burger, nisem imela velikih pričakovanj. Hočem reči, ni pomembno, kako okusno je nekaj, včasih lahko človekovo dojemanje določene jedi povsem uniči užitek. Na primer, enkrat sem pokusila piščančje srce. Bilo je okusno, ampak nisem mogla pozabiti dejstva, da jem srce. (Še vedno me zmrazi, ko samo pomislim na to.) In enako je bilo, ko sem zagrizla v konjski burger. Ni bil slab. Konjsko meso je nekako kot klobasa – kompaktno in mastno. In klobase obožujem. Ampak konja sem težko spravila po grlu. Po nekaj ugrizih se mi je pred očmi pojavila kobila Črna lepotica in enostavno sem obupala.
Moja mlajša sestrica je bila še posebej iz sebe ob ideji, da bi morala jesti konja. Ko smo ji prvič omenili, da gremo na konjski burger, je skorajda doživela napad panike. Znova in znova je ponavljala, da NE, ona pa že NE BO jedla konja. Oče je nato odrezal košček svojega burgerja in ji ga ponudil. Trajalo je nekaj minut, da ga je le dala v usta. Nato je močno stisnila veke in meso prežvečila čim hitreje ter ga pogoltnila, ne da bi sploh kaj okusila. In ne zamerim ji. Med vami in ZDA je veliko kulturnih razlik, o katerih sem se v tem času veliko naučila in se jih naučila tudi spoštovati. A nekaterih se človek pač ne more navaditi. Tako da, zelo mi je žal, ampak vseeno mi je, če so konji pri vas specialiteta, in vseeno mi je, če se vam zdi povsem normalno, da jih jeste. Jaz tega enostavno ne morem več storiti. Črna lepotica je uradno odstranjena z jedilnika.
Angleški izvirnik
The Illegal Burger
I recently did something pretty gross and very illegal. (I guess it’s neither of those things here, but where I’m from, it is most definitely both.)
I ate horse.
In the States, horses are like pets. We love them. We train them, we name them, and we ask for them for birthdays and Christmases when we are little. Horses are especially beloved where I’m from. I had lots of friends and acquaintances in high school who rode horses for competition, and a good friend of mine owns five or six of them. When I was in primary school, I went to a “Horse Camp” for a week, where I learned to saddle, groom, and ride horses. (Basically I just want you to know how much I love horses, so you can imagine the emotions I must have been experiencing as I bit into one of my equine friends.)
In many parts of the world other than the United States, eating horse is normal. In fact, horse is a delicacy in a lot of places. Horse is supposedly healthier than beef. It’s leaner, and lots of people think that it actually tastes really good (like my dad, the traitor). We have a natural aversion to eating horses in the United States. Even if we could eat them, we wouldn’t want to. But we can’t. In 2013, some high-end restaurants in the States added horse meat to their menus, and there was a lot of passionate opposition. One chef even received threats that his restaurant would be bombed if he didn’t take horse meat off the menu. (I guess some people think that protecting horses is worth a felony.) But having horse on the menu didn’t last long. Congress soon swooped in and reinstated the ban on horse slaughter in the United States. So eating horse meat in the States isn’t really a possibility. (Not that it’s a temptation, anyway.)
To be completely honest, when I went to get a horse burger, I went in with low expectations. I mean, it doesn’t matter how good something tastes, sometimes your perceptions keep you from enjoying it. For example, I ate a chicken heart once. It tasted good, but I couldn’t get over that fact that I was eating a heart. (It still freaks me out when I think about it.) That’s how I felt about the horse burger. It didn’t taste bad. Horse is kind of like sausage—dense and greasy. And I love sausage. But I couldn’t stomach the horse. I got a few bites in, but then images of Black Beauty kept flashing across my mind. I finally just gave up.
My little sister was especially upset by the idea of eating a horse. When we first mentioned that we were going to eat horse burgers, she practically had a panic attack. She stated emphatically (over and over again, mind you) that she WOULD NOT eat a horse. My dad cut off a little piece for her to eat, and it took her about ten minutes before she put it in her mouth. Then she squeezed her eyes shut and chewed as fast as she could, swallowing without even tasting it. And I don’t really blame her. There are lots of culture differences between here and the States, and I’ve learned a lot about and respected those differences. But there are some things that a person just can’t get used to. So I’m sorry, but I don’t care if horse is a delicacy here, and I don’t care if it’s normal to eat it. I just can’t ever eat horse again. Black Beauty is officially off of the menu.
