History Who Eats Horses and Why
Food and Drink, 732
Pope Gregory II orders the Benedictine missionary Wynfrith Boniface, archbishop of Hesse, to forbid consumption of horseflesh by his Christian converts in order that they may be seen to differ from the surrounding Vandals, who eat horsemeat as part of their pagan rites.

The People's Chronology is licensed from Henry Holt and Company, Inc. Copyright © 1995, 1996 by James Trager. All rights reserved.

Blame Napoleon and his hungry soldiers
As horses died, they were eaten by the starving soldiers. Sometimes they didn't even wait for them to die: "As they could seldom halt to kill and quarter the horses for food, they cut steaks from their haunches as they slithered along, and the horses have no sign of pain, being numbed by cold. The wounds congealed instantly in 16 degrees of frost, but later they formed pus and the horses died." (Nicolson 1985) (See Bibliography)

Nicolson, Nigel. 1985. Napoleon: 1812. London : Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

Horse Butchers
In those dark days, a small publishing house suggested I should write a cookery book to be published in a vaguely comic series. As an ethnologist and professional chef, it was inconceivable for me to write a book of traditional recipes. There are already so very many. What else could I possibly add? So I decided to turn the situation on its head and ask the French people, gourmets or otherwise, a simple question, “Is there a cookery book you would never dare open?” Silence. No one could imagine a disgusting book about cookery. A total blank. Without even knowing why, I made a suggestion, “What if I wrote a book about horsemeat?” Hostile reactions. “You can’t do a thing like that”. “You have no right to do anything of the sort”. “Do that and I’ll never speak to you again”. I must confess that these animated reactions worried me. more >>