Even now, the horse is much valued in the northeast where short, sturdy ponies still rule the plains at the top of the country. It is also the region in China where horsemeat is still reputedly eaten, more because of a "waste not, want not" mentality rather than a palate preference.

Animals no longer economically viable as beasts of burden are slaughtered, which reflects the Chinese love of frugality and practicality.

A couple of years ago, during that infamous horse-meat scandal in Europe, international media went wild with reports on places where horse meat was part of the diet. In some of the figures quoted, China had the most eaters of horses.

That was intriguing. So why was it we had such difficulty tracking down horsemeat suppliers, dishes and restaurants? (We found a Japanese sashimi restaurant serving raw horsemeat in Beijing.)

Turning to a food correspondent, I asked him to track down more information on "eating horses in the Year of the Horse". He said he could find none, and asked if I wanted to know about donkey meat.

Undaunted, I fished out my collection of chefs, culinary experts, epicurean historians and the general busybodies that are such storehouses of valuable trivia. That's when I hit pay dirt.

"Guilin Horsemeat Rice Noodles" was the header of one e-mail in reply with thoughtfully attached links in both English and Chinese. It was time to verify the sources and I asked a young colleague, a native of Guilin, if she had eaten the famous dish.

"Only tourists eat it now-as a novelty. We used to eat it when I was very young, but it's not so popular anymore," she says. Counting back on fingers and toes, it meant that horsemeat noodles went out of fashion at least a decade ago.

Well, it does prove that figures can lie and that, these days, you are more likely to find horsemeat on your plate in Europe than in China. Go calculate the odds yourself.

In the Year of the Horse, here are good wishes for health, happiness and safe food.

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