One man’s meat is another man’s poison, they say, and Japanese cuisine exemplifies the truth of that axiom. Many people outside of Japan still recoil at the thought of eating raw fish—much less potentially poisonous blowfish or squid still wriggling in its death throes when it’s served—and few non-Japanese view seaweed as something that is not only edible, but a tasty treat. In contrast, most Japanese, my wife included, enjoy snacking on sheets of nori they roast quickly over the stove.

So it’s no surprise to find out that some Japanese prize horsemeat as a delicacy rather than something an unscrupulous meat packer uses to make a quick buck by passing it off as a more desirable meat. Indeed, the Japanese themselves sometimes call horsemeat sakuraniku, or “cherry blossom meat”, and we all know how the people of Japan feel about cherry blossoms. Then again, that word could have been coined by an enterprising merchant with a truckload of unwanted horsemeat on his hands.

It’s particularly popular in Kyushu, and it’s often served as sashimi—in other words, in raw slices with some sauce and wasabi, the Japanese horseradish, on the side. I’ve had the pleasure of dining on horse sashimi myself. It wasn’t bad, but I haven’t gone out of my way since to order it.

But the civic boosters in Yamaga, Kumamoto Prefecture, had a bigger idea. As the Nishinippon Shimbun reported only in Japanese in its print edition last week, the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry started brainstorming about two years ago to develop a distinctive local dish to boost the area name and business. Kumamoto is full of horsemeat fanciers, so it was only a short gait from there to the decision to create horsemeat curry.

Visitors to Japan soon discover that the local version of curried rice is an extremely popular dish among young and old alike. Its role is roughly equivalent to that of the hamburger in the United States, particularly among children. A good curry recipe will keep a small restaurant proprietor safely in business; without one he might go belly up in a month.

Local chefs worked together to formulate a curry recipe using horsemeat. They used only the muscle and tenderloin parts of the horse, stewed it to remove the distinctive aroma, and came up with a suitable blend of spices. They named it Yamaga Yakushi Horsemeat Curry after a local hot spring, and offered it to the Yamaga public at local restaurants and ryokan (Japanese-style inns) in January this year.

Yamaga is in the heart of horsemeat country, so a certain amount of success was guaranteed, but they also cleverly pitched the dish to young women by emphasizing the healthfulness of horseflesh. It’s low in fat, high in collagen (good for the skin, making it a beauty product, too), and rich in iron.

Their bets on this particular nag are paying off handsomely, as the dish quickly became a hot item. Some shops report sales of 300 meals a month in April and May, which is impressive business for a small Japanese restaurant. Now, health- and trend-conscious young women are daytripping down from the Fukuoka City area on weekends to sample some for themselves. Business has been so brisk, in fact, the Chamber of Commerce has begun hatching plans to make Yamaga Horsemeat Curry a nationally known brand for fanciers of regional cuisine in the hope of imitating the success of Sasebo burgers.

If you live in or are visiting Kyushu and decide to head for Yamaga for your own epicurean adventure, you might want to time your trip for the local festival in August, in which a thousand local women dress up in yukata, place a lantern made from Japanese paper on their heads with a light inside to represent a flame, and dance at night to the strains of a local folk tune. I had a great time when I went two years ago. Yamaga is very hospitable to visitors, too. My feet got a little sore from all the walking I did that day, so I took advantage of a free foot bath conveniently located on a downtown corner using water piped in from a local hot spring.

It was a lot more fun than any Fourth of July event I ever attended in the United States. But if the idea of horsemeat doesn’t make your mouth water in anticipation, think about this: are you sure you know what meat has been used in those hot dogs you’ll be barbecuing next weekend?

Postscript: There’s a clever Japanese pun in that cartoon. The horse is talking about “uma curry”. Uma is the word for horse, and is also a slightly funky masculine way of saying umai, which means delicious.