to the development of managed pastures and
formulated feeds, the intensive breeding of
animals for efficient meat production, and
improved transportation from farms to cities.
But in less developed parts of the world, meat
is still a luxury reserved for the wealthy few.
Food Words: Meat
The English word meat has not always
meant animal flesh, and its evolution
indicates a shift in the eating habits of
English-speaking people. In the Oxford
English Dictionary’s first citation for meat,
from the year 900, the word meant solid
food in general, in contrast to drink. A
vestige of this sense survives today in the
habit of referring to the meat of nuts. It
wasn’t until 1300 that meat was used for
the flesh of animals, and not until even
later that this definition displaced the
earlier one as animal flesh became
preeminent in the English diet, in