Are Beef and Buffalo Meat in the Same Family

• #2

I've never had to think about buffalo meat, but '<animal> meat' is the normal way of speaking of the meat of any animal we don't have special words for. That is, 'buffalo meat' sounds like the obvious way of saying it, not 'buffalo beef'. Yes, buffalo(e)s and cows are quite similar, but a buffalo is not just a variety of cow, so there's no strong reason to use 'beef' for its meat: buffalo meat is not really a kind of cow meat.

• #3

I had buffalo in the USA. It was called buffalo steak, because that is the way it's been cut, but calling it buffalo meat would be fine.

• #12

We have it here in Italy too. 'Buffalo meat' is what I call it when speaking English.

• #14

boozer said:
I would refer to buffalo meat as 'beef' without batting an eyelid.

Buffalo is not beef in the U.S. either. It's either buffalo meat or bison meat, in spit of the fact that it all comes from bison, which are not true buffaloes.

No, how can it be beef? Beef comes from cows, not bison (or buffalo, which is what we have here in Italy).

Cambridge dictionary.
the flesh of cattle (= cows), eaten as food

Buffaloes are not considered cattle.

• #15

Is "buffalo meat" also called beef, as does the cow meat?

There's a specific word but it's not very common.

...in some countries it is known as carabeef, from the Spanish term and breed name carabao.
Buffalo meat - Wikipedia

Another word that that Wikipedia page refers to is buffen.

Last edited: Jul 25, 2020

• #16

Never heard it in my life. I wouldn't have known what it meant.

• #17

Buffaloes are not considered cattle.

Lexico thinks they are.

1 Large ruminant animals with horns and cloven hoofs, domesticated for meat or milk, or as beasts of burden; cows.
2 Similar animals of a group related to domestic cattle, including yak, bison, and buffalo.

• #18

Ok, I stand corrected. I suppose it's because they're domesticated.

Does that mean you'd refer to it as beef?

• #20

Does that mean you'd refer to it as beef?

Good heavens, no. Definitely not. I might call the hes and shes bulls and cows, though, in a context where the species has already been established.
Or should it be buffalords and buffaladies?

• #22

I think buffalo meat has been traditionally called beef in this part of the world too (Singapore, Malaysia). It's partly to do with a loose use of terms in relation to substitutions here. (No beef cattle here, and buffalo is seen as a beef substitute. Also, no sheep here, and goat is seen as a sheep substitute; so today, when we say mutton we are thinking of goat meat.)

• #23

I think buffalo meat has been traditionally called beef in this part of the world too

It's the same here--not because there are no beef cattle but because many people don't make a distinction between cows and buffaloes as far as the meat is concerned.

when we say mutton we are thinking of goat meat.)

Again, the same here.

Last edited: Jul 26, 2020

• #27

Yes, I knew that. 😊I just didn't think they were considered cattle but that actually does make sense, given that here in Italy water buffalo are kept in herds:this is mozzarella country. 😊

• #29

Yes, bison are not domesticated and kept in herds as water buffalo are. Definitely not cattle.

• #31

I said 'kept' in herds. I know bison roam in herds. And I did not say bison are domesticated either. I was talking about water buffalo which here in Italy are kept exactly as you keep cows. 😊

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Source: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/buffalo-meat.3724996/

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