It is very common in this part of the world to refer to every meat from almost every animal source as beef or just meat. This is not only common amongst the less educated but also amongst the well-educated. The exceptions are just meat that are totally different; of course, nobody would refer to chicken, turkey, snail and pork as beef.
The only distinction we seem to have gotten between meat that look alike in structure and appearance is that between beef and pork. These are the meat from cattle and pig respectively. These are the two we actually call their real names. It is hard to come across a person – even a stark illiterate, who would refer to pork as beef but when it comes to meat from goat, sheep and some other related animals, it is beef.
Why am I writing article on names of Meat?
I was on a queue in a restaurant waiting to make my order when the man in front of me started raising his voice. I listened and found out that he was arguing with the waitress over names of meat.
The man already bought rice and plantain when this poor waitress asked what else the man wanted. “Put one meat”, the man replied. The waitress then asked him what kind of meat the man wanted to which the man replied, “what do you mean, just put one meat”.
I could see the frustration on the face of the waitress when she calmly replied, “but sir, we have different types of meat – even pork”. Then the man asked one hilarious question “why would you put pork? Is pork meat?
Pork is pork and there is cow meat and goat meat!” I had to add my voice to save the helpless waitress.
This was when I thought I should write about this because others joined the argument and I found out that people only knew what the meat from cattle and pig are called – beef and pork.
Special Names for the Meat of some Common Animals
Here are the special names for the meat of some animals that we may know and not know.
| Animals | Meat Name |
| Cattle (cow or bull) | Beef |
| Calf (young cow) | Veal |
| Pig | Pork |
| Deer | Venison |
| Sheep (Ram or Ewe) | Mutton |
| Pigeon | Squab |
| Water Buffalo | Carabeef |
| Goat | Chevon |
| Chicken | Chicken |
| Turkey | Turkey |
Now that you know better, you should try calling these animal meats by their real names and you will definitely get used to it. This list is not exhaustive and we welcome contribution in form of comments.
If you think there is an animal meat we have missed here, you can share it with us using the comment section below.
