conversation

I'm not sure how horse meat comes up in the conversation, a surprise in the Swedish meatball of life.

"I don't think I could eat a horse," she tells me. "I mean they are such majestic animals and we have this connection with them. You can feel their intelligence when you ride them."

I don't have the heart to tell her that she has probably eaten horse meat on multiple occasions, after all the FDA approved the consumption of it in 2012 and since then it's shown up everywhere from Ikea to fast food restaurants. The dining hall is a bustle with people who could very possibly be eating horses, as we speak.

"Well, if we're going to talk about intelligence," I take a bite of my sushi. "Then, we shouldn't eat pigs because they are hella intelligent and more likely to have the cognitive capacity to self-actualize. They are able to open locks and save their kin in farms. Therefore, the decision to not eat horses is really just specisism."

She is eating the days mystery meat. Because this is Aramark and because Aramark is all about local and cheap, she is almost definitely eating horse meat. "Let's forget about intelligence, pigs are tasty."

"They're made of bacon," someone else, eating a stir fry, chimes in.

Mystery meat "So you would eat a dog?"

"No, because I've heard it's disgusting from everyone whose eaten it,"

"But you haven't tried it so why won't you eat it."

"Look, I'm not arguing that we should eat pigs or horses, I'm arguing that we should just have consistency."