ALL ABOUT MEAT
Whetherit’s cooked, rare, raw or rotting, we look at the science behind meat and why some animals can eat what makes others sick
WORDSAILSA HARVEY
DID YOU KNOW?
‘Venison’ means ‘to hunt’ in Latin and was once used to describe any meat from a wild animal
Did you know?
25 per cent of the world’s beef comes from the US
From at least 2.6 million years ago, early humans began adding meat to their diets. Meat is a broad term for any animal part that’s eaten as food, usually a cut from muscle tissue, as these are the most protein-dense and nutrient-rich parts of most animals. Our human ancestors were much more aware of the meat they were eating than most people are today, as they hunted it themselves. Today, meat is often prepared and preserved out of sight, wrapped up in packaging and labelled with the name of the part of the animal it originated from.
Meat comes in many varieties, but can be classified broadly into three main categories: red meat, white meat and seafood. All livestock is listed as red meat, including cattle, pigs, goats and lambs. White meat, or poultry, includes birds such as chickens and turkeys. Lastly, seafood covers any edible fish, crustaceans and molluscs.