Derby Party Recipes From PETA? Group Serves Up Martha Stewart–Inspired Menu—With a Twist
For Immediate Release:
May 1, 2024
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Ahead of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, PETA has released an irreverent collection of recipes—inspired by Martha Stewart’s “Kentucky Derby At-Home” menu—perfect for partygoers to enjoy as they brace themselves for the gruesome injuries and deaths that are inevitable during Derby season.
The spoof collection includes Ferdinand “Horses in a Blanket” Sausage Rolls, made with basashi (raw horse meat) and named after Derby winner Ferdinand, who was slaughtered for meat in Japan; a Big-Batch “Drug Cocktail” of hormones, stimulants, and painkillers like those routinely administered to horses used for racing; Eight Belles Ginger Snaps—shaped like horses’ ankles—that will snap like the front ankles of filly Eight Belles just after she crossed the race’s finish line; and a batch of a dozen “Death-by-Chocolate” Bourbon Balls, one for each of the 12 horses killed at Churchill Downs in the weeks surrounding the Derby last year.
“When 1,200-pound medicated and overworked animals are forced to run at breakneck speeds, horrific injuries and fatalities are sure to follow,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA’s Kentucky Derby recipes will give horse racing fans a taste of the torment and abuse that runs rampant in the industry.”
PETA’s recipes also include Bob Baffert Bagel Bites (poppy seed, of course), named after the disgraced trainer who once claimed that poppy seed bagels were responsible for the morphine in a horse’s system, and Whipped Cream Derby Pie, a “tribute” to Victor Espinoza, the jockey who whipped American Pharoah 32 times during a single Derby.
PETA points out that more than 8,000 horses died on racetracks in the U.S. between 2009 and 2023—and that number doesn’t include those who died during training or were sold for slaughter once they were no longer considered profitable.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
