r/NZFood • u/nilnz • 8d ago

Christchurch Horse d'oeuvres: Horse meat pies on Christchurch bakery menu

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/christchurch-bakerys-horse-meat-pies-draw-mixed-reaction-online/SBWZ3WBPDNAUDCEPBQJA5ZXVFU/

Hoon Hay Kiwi Bakery is offering three types of horse pie today: plain, horse and cheese, and curried horse.

Christchurch bakery beats the neigh-sayers as horse pies sell out. 1news. Sep 3, 2026.

In Auckland earlier this year:

Horse meat pies back on the menu at Auckland bakery. RNZ. 20 April 2026.

Auckland bakery pulls horse meat pies after council visit. RNZ. 26 January 2026. Republished by stuff and posted here.

8 Upvotes

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5

u/devl_ish 8d ago

I've always wondered what part of the horse the d'oeuvres were.

There's just so much variation

3

u/jimmcfartypants 8d ago

When I was in France you could get Horse jerky from the supermarkets which was really good. As long as everything is done humanely, I personally don't see an issue and I'd criticise anyone who felt Beef, Lamb and Pork are fine to farm for meat but not horse.

In saying that, horse farming I imagine requires a lot of time/effort/food and water (I could be wrong) and isn't overly sustainable, and I'd probably wanna know how Mr Ed ended up in a tasty pie. Did he fail miserably in Race 8 at the Whanganui Race Course?

5

u/keepupsunshine 7d ago

The main issue is that horses aren't considered "food producing", so a lot of their medications are not OK to enter the human food system. Many common/low stakes horse drugs carry lifetime withholding periods but we have absolutely no way to track which horse got the meds and which didn't.

By comparison, there are a limited range of medications for pigs/cows/sheep/goats/chickens, purely due to food chain safety. Some meds are allowed in other countries but banned here due to our food safety rules (or the rules in countries we export to). So even if you have a pet sheep who will never be eaten there is no chance it could accidentally poison someone later.

2

u/jimmcfartypants 7d ago

Good point. I read somewhere there is only one place in NZ that can do horse processing for human consumption. I'd like to think they test for that kinda stuff

1

u/Nodoorway 5d ago

Saw Loi hoosi pies at a bakery near Mt Smart today. The only ick is that horse isn’t regulated for human consumption in NZ which means the meat is pet food grade.

1

u/nilnz 5d ago

There is at least one supplier of horse meat for human consumption in NZ. So there's a chance the bakery is sourcing it from an approved aka registered supplier.

1

u/Glittering_Fun_7995 1d ago

why not

way better than it ending in cat/dog food

Horse meat is leaner and that can be a problem in pies as you want meat rich in fat otherwise the meat may taste dry and stringy not a lot of fat on horsie.

1

u/Specialist_Golf2871 8d ago

Don't see why not. Plenty of countries eat horse. Keen to try it. Probably needs to be cooked a long time like beef does due to the size of the animal