Has anybody ever eaten polenta and or horse meat? Non traditional Italian food.

[Villa]

I spent a month in northern Italy this past summer. Ate a lot of food that people don't usually think of as Italian food. For one thing I went to this steak house in Vicenza, Italy. They had huge thick steaks and also horse meat steaks. Somebody said they get the horse meat from Argentina.

At any rate one common food in Italy that doesn't seem Italian at all is polenta. It's the same word in Spanish. It's prepared in different ways and mixed with different things.

Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal. Although the word "polenta" is borrowed into English from Italian, and it is a traditional staple food throughout much of Northern Italy, the same dish (under various names) is also found in Slovenian, Savoyard, Swiss, American Southern, Austrian, Portuguese, Bosnian, Croatian, Cuban, Hungarian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Corsican, Argentine, Uruguayan, Brazilian, Peruvian, Venezuelan, Haitian, Mexican and Turkish cuisines.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Polenta in Mexico??? I'm trying to think of a similar meal, but I'm not that sure there's anything like that, despite the fact that much of the Mexican cuisine is based on corn grains and flour.

There is obviously some fast-cooking polenta at the supermarket, but it's not a "national" dish.


But to reply the original question: I have cooked and tasted polenta sometimes, although I haven't been specially happy with it, and have never eaten horse meat (that I know).

[Jessica]

horse meat?

[pjt33]

I may have eaten horsemeat without realising in an Argentinian restaurant. I know I've eaten guinea pig.

[Jessica]

ugh I don't feel like eating meat anymore

[ROBINDESBOIS]

I have eaten polenta in France and Italy. I don´t like it very much. I love horsemeat, wild boar meat, buffalo meat and ostrich meat. They are all delicious.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

I have eaten polenta in France and Italy. I don´t like it very much. I love horsemeat, wild boar meat, buffalo meat and ostrich meat. They are all delicious.

I'll have to try them all sometime.

[poli]

Polenta can be prepared in many ways. There is a Colombian/Venezuelan
food called arepa which resembles dry-baked polenta. I don't think you will find soft polenta (like what you find in Veneto) often in Latin America outside of Argentina. In Argentina, it is very much available (and really good) at Italian restaurants and stores.

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

I have eaten polenta in France and Italy. I don´t like it very much. I love horsemeat, wild boar meat, buffalo meat and ostrich meat. They are all delicious.

I didn't think ostrich was anything special, but wild boar sausage is good (and so is donkey sausage).

[Elaina]

I've eaten polenta but can't say that it was something that I would eat again as it lacks flavor and ???

I think I've eaten horse meat but I don't remember if I like it or not as I was a child when I ate it. I do remember it was very, very red and it had to be cooked for a long while for it to get tender.