First off, let me define that word that you probably don't recognize. Basashi is the Japanese word for horse sashimi. Yes, you read that correctly. This post is going to be about raw horse meat being served up as food. Now, to anyone who really knows me, it should be no surprise that I was willing to entertain this as an entree. I've told the story of "come y calla" (read: "eat your food and shut up") before, and I've never quite gotten over it. I also tend to be very willing to just try things, and food is no different.
Interestingly enough, I actually knew about this because a friend of mine had consumed this before. In fact, she had decided to give the horse a try during a trip to Japan of her own. I don't quite remember what prompted this for her, but I do remember the reservations that she expressed while talking about the food. Heck, that Wikipedia article to which I linked has a whole sub-section about the taboos against treating horse as food. It doesn't take too much imagination to understand why some people wouldn't want to eat horse.
In fact, the Mild Ex said something to that effect to me when I mentioned that we were going to have basashi. I believe the words "poor horse" were involved, to give you some indication of how this conversation went down. And like I said, she was not the only one to raise an objection. Interestingly enough, the only people who said something were women (a fact that the Mild Ex also pointed out). Either guys are more willing to eat various types of meat, or they don't immediately think of ponies when they realize how to prepare basashi.
The funniest response to this, though, was from some of my co-travelers. Someone said something about not wanting to be there when it was prepared, and my travel buddy immediately replied with, "no, that's when you get the soul of the horse, and that's the best part." There was no hesitation and he nailed the deadpan delivery, so we all immediately started cracking up. This thought came up in my mind a couple more times, and I couldn't help but chuckle each time.
And that, my friends, is how I ended up consuming a horse soul when I was abroad. I thought it tasted pretty good.
Interestingly enough, I actually knew about this because a friend of mine had consumed this before. In fact, she had decided to give the horse a try during a trip to Japan of her own. I don't quite remember what prompted this for her, but I do remember the reservations that she expressed while talking about the food. Heck, that Wikipedia article to which I linked has a whole sub-section about the taboos against treating horse as food. It doesn't take too much imagination to understand why some people wouldn't want to eat horse.
In fact, the Mild Ex said something to that effect to me when I mentioned that we were going to have basashi. I believe the words "poor horse" were involved, to give you some indication of how this conversation went down. And like I said, she was not the only one to raise an objection. Interestingly enough, the only people who said something were women (a fact that the Mild Ex also pointed out). Either guys are more willing to eat various types of meat, or they don't immediately think of ponies when they realize how to prepare basashi.
The funniest response to this, though, was from some of my co-travelers. Someone said something about not wanting to be there when it was prepared, and my travel buddy immediately replied with, "no, that's when you get the soul of the horse, and that's the best part." There was no hesitation and he nailed the deadpan delivery, so we all immediately started cracking up. This thought came up in my mind a couple more times, and I couldn't help but chuckle each time.
And that, my friends, is how I ended up consuming a horse soul when I was abroad. I thought it tasted pretty good.
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