Want to Eat Horse Meat? Visit the Turatea Equestrian Festival in Jeneponto

PERSISMA, Jeneponto – Military District Command (MDC) 1425/Jp will hold the Turatea Equestrian Festival in commemoration of the Indonesian Army Fighting Day or commonly known as the Infantry Corps Day. In the event that will be held for 3 days starting from 20 to 23 December 2019 at Karsut Beach, Jeneponto, there is a special culinary offering of horse meat.

This was revealed by Commander of MDC 1425 / Jeneponto, Lt. Col. (Inf) Irfan Amir to this media reporter through his WhatsApp channel, 1 December 2019. “This activity is also aimed at exploring local wisdom of Butta Turatea, Jeneponto Regency, South Sulawesi, both in terms of horse racing and culinary side of the horse meat,”said Irfan.

The activities that will be held are:

1. On December 20, 2019 there will be a horse carnival by displaying horses that are riding on traditional clothing and warrior clothing depicting Jeneponto culture and the Armed Forces Day (Infantry Day).

2. A culinary festival with the main menu of processed horse meat which will be held on the next day, December 21, 2019 by presenting dishes that use processed horse meat such as Ganja (Gantala Jarang) and other familiar horse meat preparations such as coto and konro. In this regard, other horse meat preparations will also be displayed, namely shredded horse meat, horse meat jerky, and rendang from horse meat.

3. Horse Race will be held on 22 December 2019 which is the culture of the Jeneponto people from ancient times.

Through this equestrian festival, the MDC and the committee wanted to participate in introducing and promoting Jeneponto culture at the national level, even at the international level. We all know that the most horse-eating community in the world is only the people of Jeneponto Regency.

“We can search in which part of the world where people can compete Jeneponto residents in terms of consuming horse meat,” said Lt. Col. Inf Irfan Amir with a slight laugh.

The information obtained so far, it reveal that the Jeneponto community can consume approximately 20 horses per day starting from individual consumption at home to serving at food stalls. Travelers who come to Jeneponto can see how processed horse meat is made in Jeneponto. It covers the whole area, starting from the border of Jeneponto-Takalar Regency up to the border of Jeneponto-Bantaeng Regency, most of the food stalls serve processed horse meat. Culinary forms vary, such as made in the form of coto, konro, and shredded.

“Mathematically, if the Jeneponto community consumes approximately 20 horses per day, the people here needs approximately 600 for monthly consumption. Annually, it can reach 7,200 horses,”explained Irfan with a smile.

Based on these facts, the Jeneponto people claim that they are the most massive society in the world who were consuming horse meat. “I challenge the Indonesia Record Museum (MURI) or even the Guinness Book of Word Record institutions to find any place in the world where there are people who consume horses as much as the Jeneponto community,” challenged Irfan Amir.

In addition, he adds, at the Turatea Equestrian Festival, it intends to open space for exploration of local wisdom of Butta Turatea in terms of culture, sports and tourism. “These three thing the Turatea Equestrian Festival event for. I invite all of us, let’s bring Jeneponto to the world through this event. I also hope that this event can become an annual event agenda of the Regional Government of Jeneponto, South Sulawesi, and even of national goverment,” concluded Irfan Amir. (IRA/Editor).