Why don’t you call the pork on your plate pig or your beef cow? And why do you call your deer meat venison instead of deer?

It’s because the folks who first named these foods were likely not doing the cooking . . . or the hunting or farming. They were rich. 

We’re talking about long ago, around the 1200s to 1400s. In Europe back then, nobles had plenty of money. Serfs had very little. Richer people ate different foods than poorer people did. They also spoke different languages. French was the language used by many members of the European upper class. They looked at their plates and called their cow meat “boeuf” (BUHF), their pig meat porc (POR), and their chicken meat poulet (POO-lay). Meanwhile, the English-speaking folk who raised the animals used the English names out in the field. For food, mostly the French names stuck, though they changed a little over time. Boeuf became beef. Porc became pork. Poulet became poultry. 

And what about venison? Its name comes from the Latin word venari. That means “to hunt.” So technically, you could call several kinds of hunted food venison—including hares, goats, and boars. But people normally use the word for deer. 

Today, people in England suggest serving surplus venison to the needy. But historically, venison was a dish enjoyed by the rich.

Note: Do you remember a famous deer chase in literature? In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the children—as kings and queens of Narnia—go on a hunt in pursuit of the white stag. They find their way back out of Narnia when they do.