Horse Meat Burgers Sold in UK Are Delicacy in Romania

GALATI - Romania - It is possibly the poorest country in Europe but it has a rich culture and cuisine. This is why Romanians are astounded at the hostility to their culinary delights and way of life.

"In our country we use everything and eat everything because we are so poor. This is why it angers me so much that the whining British should complain about eating condemned horse and donkey meat from our country. We have been eating this type of meat for centuries and it is our tradition," Romu Ceausesfu, a Romanian tourism spokesman told state television last night.

There is a lot of anger and dismay across the former soviet country about the British hostility to the millions of Romanian immigrants who will come to the United Kingdom soon enough. Horse and donkey meat in this Eastern European outpost is seen as a delicacy to be savoured and not reviled as in the UK.

"Big Issue, Big Issue!" a Romanian woman shouts outside a local Tesco in London's Hampstead. Irina Skodlesku, 34, who arrived in the UK two months ago, receives £34,000 in benefits per annum in benefits and housing costs and she also makes over £150 per day in Big Issue sales.

"I am very happy to be here it like a dream for me. In my country I had nothing, now I get everything I want for free in UK. How good is that? So my English friends, it's not just horse burgers that come from Romania but people like me," she said cackling like a jackal.

By the end of 2013, 29 million Romanians and Bulgarians will be eligible to come to the UK to receive free hospital care, benefits, schooling, and housing.