Why Are Cows Meat, Pigs Pork, Turkeys Turkey, and Tunas Tuna?
A Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM Marc Bekoff, Psychology Today/Animal Emotions
June 2020

Names and labels used for "food animals" are psychological ploys to distance people from their meals and reduce cognitive dissonance…

Turkey Walter
Walter, a rescued turkey, at Luvin' Arms Animal Sanctuary – image by Tito White

A few weeks ago I received an email from a 12-year-old boy (Erwin) who was concerned and confused about the names and labels that are used to refer to so-called "food animals." He asked, "Why are cows meat, pigs pork, turkeys turkey, and tunas tuna?" The COVID-19 pandemic is calling attention to the lives and plight of a wide variety of nonhuman animals. He had read about the horrific conditions at pork-producing meatpacking plants and, while he knew that what we call pork had previously been a sentient pig, he hadn't really thought much about it.

I reminded him that the meat and pork industries are more appropriately called the cow and pig industries, that a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich is really a pig, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, and that the real question at hand is "Who's for dinner?" rather than "What's for dinner"? A few other email exchanges showed me he clearly understood what I was writing.

Erwin also mentioned that when he asked his mother this same question, she casually told him that animals don't really have emotions or feelings, and "These words are used are for marketing and people don't want to come to terms with the fact they are eating a cow or a pig." Erwin wondered, rightfully, why birds, fish, and invertebrates who are eaten usually called by name, for who they are—chicken, turkey, goose, tuna, halibut, lobster—and wanted to know more about the names and labels that are used to refer to nonhumans who are regular features on countless humans' meal plans. He also wondered why lamb chops are a popular food item, and I couldn't say much about it given that it's well known that sheep are fully sentient beings just like cows, pigs, and other mammalian "food animals," but I was pleased he asked.

I once asked a hunter why deer meat is called venison, but people freely talk about elk steaks. He said something like, "Many people don't want to face the fact they're eating a cute deer like Bambi"....

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