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Clearly Veg reports:
Barbara Hendricks, Germany's environment minister, has banned meat in all official functions and called for only vegetarian food to be served. The ban became clear through an email "to department heads from a senior civil servant in the environment ministry", according to The Telegraph . The e-mail noted that the ministry had a responsibility and should set an example to combat the "negative effects of meat consumption", with a statement by the ministry reading:
"We're not telling anyone what they should eat. But we want to set a good example for climate protection, because vegetarian food is more climate-friendly than meat and fish."
Unsurprisingly, the ban has caused a lot of controversy. Minister of food and agriculture Christian Schmidt, who has previously stated that he will push for a ban on "misleading" vegan labels such as vegan curry sausages, stated that he will not be having this "Veggie Day through the back door", and that "meat and fish are also part of a balanced diet".
[Ed Note: This submission vandalized by cmn32480.]
(Score: 4, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday February 24 2017, @03:44PM
If it has muscles, it's meat.
Well, that's YOUR definition, but historically that's a pretty recent definition of the word.
Words can have different definitions or connotations depending on context. There are a number of potentially valid reasons to separate "fish" as a culinary category from the muscles of mammals and birds, etc. -- for example, types of preparation are often very different, and fish have a unique nutritional profile that makes it a bit different from other "meat" (in general). Plus, there is a longstanding historical distinction between the groups, as in the traditional Catholic prohibition of "meat" on Fridays while allowing fish.
Also, the word "meat" in English originally just meant "food." Eventually it developed a sense of the "important" food, like the most substantive dish of the meal. Since animal flesh was more nutritious (and tastier to most), it became the center of formal meals. But we still use the category of "meat" as "important element" all the time in English -- "get to the 'meat' of the argument," etc. And we still use it even when not talking about animals at all to refer to the "good part" of food, e.g., the "meat" of a nut (as opposed to the shell) or even of a peach (as opposed to the skin, pit, etc.). And from this perspective, fish in traditional formal dining was considered a separate item from the "main course": you had the "fish" and then the "meat," i.e., the primary course.
And historically, "meat" in different regions and dialects referred to various types of foods. In areas of the U.S. a century or more ago, "meat" referred exclusively to pork and would generally not be used to refer to beef, mutton, etc. In some areas of South Asia, "meat" often referred only to mutton or goat. In other contexts, a distinction is made between beef as "meat" vs. all other things.
Bottom line: "meat" means a whole bunch of different things depending on context. Not everyone understands it to mean "the muscles of all animals."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @08:11PM
the word "meat" in English originally just meant "food".
Eventually it developed a sense of the "important" food, like the most substantive dish of the meal.
"If you don't eat your meat, how can you have any pudding?"
Brit:USAian :: pudding:dessert
In areas of the U.S. a century or more ago, "meat" referred exclusively to pork
This is news to me.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @08:20PM
Yeah. If people are restrictive about what meat means in the US, meat would be beef, not pork.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24 2017, @11:24PM
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.''
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Tuesday February 28 2017, @03:49PM
Well, that's YOUR definition
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/meat?s=t [dictionary.com]
noun
1. the flesh of animals as used for food.
It's literally the first entry.
Do you happen to have a citation for the historical contexts you mentioned? I'm genuinely curious. I've never heard any of that except the nut part.