Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary outside round steak recipe of many countries, particularly in Eurasia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.

During the Paleolithic, wild horses formed an important source of food for humans. In many parts of Europe, the consumption of horse meat continued throughout the Middle Ages until modern times, despite a papal ban on horse meat in 732. The earliest horses evolved on the North American continent, and by about 12,000 BC, they had migrated to other parts of the world, becoming extinct in the Americas. France dates its taste for horse meat to the Revolution. With the fall of the aristocracy, its auxiliaries had to find new means of subsistence. The horses formerly maintained by the aristocracy as a sign of prestige ended up being used to alleviate the hunger of the masses. Hunger during World War II led to horses being eaten.