As the old saying goes, "donkey meat smells good, horse meat stinks, and you won't eat mule meat if you starve to death." Is mule meat really so bad? Mule is a new breed produced by crossing horse and donkey. As an important means of transportation, the three are often compared together. However, for the majority of foodies, in the face of many animals, their first reaction is, this guy is so cute, can he eat? Why are donkey meat, horse meat and mule meat so different? Does this statement make sense?

First, donkey meat has always been very expensive among common meats, and the market price is basically more than one catty in 50 yuan. Earlier, there were many donkey meat restaurants in the north and south, but with the sharp decline in the remaining circulation in the market, there were few donkey meat restaurants, and even in the south, even donkey meat was hard to find in the market. Therefore, people often use transportation tools, especially in mountainous areas. The status of donkey is far superior to that of cattle, but in other places, its efficiency is far lower than that of other two kinds of livestock, but people find donkey meat very delicious. With the development of the times, people's lives are gradually replaced by machines, and donkeys, an inefficient livestock, are gradually eliminated and become a delicacy in people's mouths.

Second, donkey meat is a kind of food with high protein, low fat, high amino acid and low cholesterol. Its taste and nutritional value are higher than pork, and it is a relatively healthy meat material. It tastes tender, smooth, delicious and chewy. In addition, donkey meat itself has health care functions such as enriching blood, benefiting qi and tonifying deficiency, and has certain medicinal value. Therefore, donkey meat has gradually become famous in the food industry. In Guangdong, Guangxi, Shaanxi, Beijing, Hebei and other places, more than a dozen famous dishes have emerged, such as roast donkey meat, donkey steak, donkey brain soup and so on. The ancients said that horse meat stinks because horses were important strategic materials in ancient times, which were inseparable from marching and fighting and consigning goods.

Third, horse meat stinks, mainly because we don't want horses to be slaughtered and eaten casually. In fact, the statement that horse meat stinks is ambiguous. Horse meat is a traditional food of Kazak people and is also eaten in other places. Some people think that horse meat is a rare delicacy, but most people think that horse meat tastes bitter and sour, which is very unpalatable. This is because the horse has a large amount of exercise, low fat content, particularly thick meat fiber, and its own sweat glands are developed, and the whole body smells sweaty. If the cooking technology is not in place, it is naturally not delicious. Therefore, everyone thinks that horse meat stinks for a reason.

Fourthly, as for mule meat, it is not as bad as the old saying goes. The reason why you starve to death instead of eating mule meat is more or less related to the birth background of mule. As we said before, mules are the hybrid offspring of horses and donkeys and have no fertility. For the ancients, there are three kinds of unfilial, and the last one is the biggest, which also shows that they attach great importance to carrying on the family line. In addition, mules are docile, long-lived, and have higher self-worth. They are good helpers for farmers, and it is easy to have feelings with breeders in long-term life. For various reasons, it is not difficult to understand why there is a saying that people starve to death and don't eat mule meat. Of course, the so-called donkey meat smells good, horse meat stinks, and starving to death without eating mule meat is purely an ancient saying, which has only reference value.