Horse meat: Should it be on the menu at Top Chef Canada?

Top Chef Canada head judge Mark McEwan, seen at left, is shown with host Thea Andrews. Chefs will compete to create a dish from scratch from horse meat on Monday night's show. (Food Network Canada/Insight Productions )

By CBC News

A popular TV food show in Canada is stirring up a giant stew of controversy with a segment using horse meat.

Top Chef Canada is airing an episode Monday night called "The French Feast," which will require chefs to create a dish from scratch using horse meat.

Horse meat has been on menus for a long time in Europe and is available on supermarket shelves in Quebec. But in the rest of North America, it's not considered a palatable staple.

Three Facebook groups have popped up encouraging viewers to boycott Top Chef Canada.

This is not the first time horse meat has caused a furor in Canada. In October 2010, protests about the controversial meat took place in Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Halifax and Charlottetown.

At that time, protesters were urging MPs to support a private member's bill in Ottawa that would ban the slaughter of horses for meat.

Read more.

Do you think it's alright for Top Chef Canada to feature horse meat? Why or why not? Have you ever eaten, or would you eat, horse meat? If you have, what was it like? If not, why not? Let us know in the comments below.

(This survey is not scientific. It is based on readers' responses.)