I'm a vegetarian, so I'm...whatever. But I see no real difference between cow/horse. I saw the six downvotes and was, if I'm honest, hoping for a little drama in the comments. But it's not here. It seems like kbin/lemmy may have plateaued re user growth, at least for the time being. And I've been a bit bummed about it, generally. But this was a pleasant surprise.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I consume very low amount of mean compared to the average (I'd say I consume no more than I need), and I totally agree that there should be no difference between cows and horses, as both are very intelligent and can get attached to humans or other species. Same goes for many other mammals, and not limited to.
I don't want to sound arrogant, but people who have issues with foods are generally Americans. People elsewhere eat everything and there's no drama. My ignorant theory is that the American industrial approach to food has destroyed traditions and replaced them with synthetic crap. There should be no drama about eating a horse, a cricket or spinach.
I am an American and I agree. This issue started at the end of World War II. The technology we developed to store and preserve bulk calories in tiny packages was probably a contributing factor to outcome of that war. It was cheap, simple and it was fantastic technology at the time. It has gotten too good, unfortunately.
However, processed foods are just one of the problems. All things considered, we have a lot of extremely cheap normal food as well. The mid-west is practically dedicated to cattle farms and corn. Our calories are super cheap and for the most part, we have excellent logistics networks. A funny rumor is that we here in Colorado get fresher sea food than most coastal locations since our orders get processed first thing in the morning for transport. (That sounds silly enough that I wouldn't be surprised if it were true.)
There are many different issues that cause higher obesity rates here, is my point.
I don't know man I live in the Netherlands and it seems really 50/50 whether someone accepts "uncommon" meat. I personally feel weird thinking about eating dog/cat meat or crickets even though I understand that it is not a rational thought (assuming you're fine with other meat of course).