Animal rights organisation PETA resorted to poo-poohing Ramsay in protest at his dishing up horse meat to Janet Street-Porter on the F-Word and promoting it as a healthy alternative to beef, declaiming such culinary taboo breaking as a mere TV ratings-grabbing gimmick.

Horses occupy uneasy territory between farm animal and domestic pet, which is perhaps why most of us are so revulsed by the idea of eating Dobbin for dinner (next up, the cat on a spit) but as Ramsay points out:

"it is healthy, with lots of iron and half the fat of beef and far more Omega 3 essential fatty acids." He describes horse meat as "slightly gamey" and "packed with protein"

Also, it is perfectly legal to eat horse.

We're on the fence with this one but maybe one fat lady, Clarissa Dickson Wright, is barking up the right tree when she says, "if it was good eating there would be more people eating it." Well, quite.

Image courtesy of Dave Nicoll's Flickrstream