Meat
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Meat is animal tissue (mainly muscle) used as food.
The common defintion of meat is dependent on culture. Most Americans would exclude organ meat, fish, and other seafood from their definition of meat. Originally, the word meat meant simply "food." It is also used as a vulgar way to refer to the human body (see meat market).
For the most part, meat for human consumption comes from domesticated animals bred specifically for this purpose, and killed in an abattoir.
The use of other meats, such as venison, the meat of small game animals and a few other mammals, and even the meat of certain reptiles and amphibians, is not uncommon. The meat of a large array of other mammal species is eaten in some countries. What meats are used and the way they are cooked depends on the availability and cuisine.
Thin sliced meats used in sandwich-making are called cold cuts in the United States.
In recent years, forms of imitation meat have been created to satisfy some vegetarians' taste for the flavour and texture of meat, and there is speculation about the possibility of growing in vitro meat from animal tissue.
Meat is also the currency used in the popular MMORPG Kingdom of Loathing.
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Taboo Meat
Main article: taboo meat
Some types of meat are taboo for certain religions (such as pork or beef) while others are due to their association as pets in those countries, with the notable exception of rabbits in the West. Judaism labels the meat of some animals, if slaughtered properly, as kosher, or "fit", and the rest are considered not kosher, or "not fit". In Islam permitted meats are termed halal. Until the mid-1960s, the Catholic Church forbade the eating of meat on Fridays. Catholics do not eat meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and Fridays during Lent. Buddhist belief advises against killing animals because of the bad karma believed to be generated. However, eating meat when the animal has already been killed (depending upon the individual's interpretation of karmic laws) might not necessarily carry this karmic penalty.
List of meats
The following list of meats includes animals which some cultures never eat or do not consider meat, as well as endangered species.
- artificial meat
- others
See also
es:Carne eo:Viando fr:Viande id:Daging io:Karno it:Carne he:בשר lt:Mėsa nl:Vlees ja:肉 pl:Mięso pt:Carne fi:Liha zh:肉類