# White Meat (Chicken) vs. Red Meat (Cows)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-meat-chicken-vs-red-meat-cows/180998
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 11, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-meat-chicken-vs-red-meat-cows/180998 "2003-06-11T00:23:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-meat-chicken-vs-red-meat-cows/180998/1 "2003-06-11T00:23:34Z")
Why is the meat of chicken and other fowl white while the meat of cows and other hooved creatures is red?
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-meat-chicken-vs-red-meat-cows/180998/2 "2003-06-11T00:32:54Z")
Cecil answers: [Why is white meat white and dark meat dark?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a981204b.html)
I’m still unclear as to whether dark meat is the same thing as red meat, though. I think it is.
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### Author:  [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-meat-chicken-vs-red-meat-cows/180998/3 "2003-06-11T01:40:37Z")
No, dark meat is the thigh/bottom of the chicken, and white meat is the breast/top. Red meat comes from cows and such.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-meat-chicken-vs-red-meat-cows/180998/4 "2003-06-11T05:42:44Z")
Don’t forget that we get beef from both cows and bulls. The sex neutral term is cattle, specifically, beef cattle.
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### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-meat-chicken-vs-red-meat-cows/180998/5 "2003-06-11T05:48:46Z")
According to the OED cows is an accepatble plural form for both genders in the US.
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### Author:  [@Bromley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bromley)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-meat-chicken-vs-red-meat-cows/180998/6 "2003-06-11T11:41:35Z")
[Usenet](http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=36D639CB.CB55BE2D%40punkass.com), a horrible place for a cite (especially alt.teens!), has this:
Red meat is red because the muscle fibres which make up the bulk of the meat contain a high content of myoglobin and mitochondria (which are coloured red). Myoglobin, a protein similar to haemoglobin in red blood cells, acts as a store for oxygen within the muscle fibres.
Mitochondria are organelles within cells which use oxygen to manufacture the compound ATP which supplies the energy for muscle contraction. The muscle fibres of white meat, by contrast, have a low content of myoglobin and mitochondria.
The difference in colour between the flesh of various animals is determined by the relative proportions of these two basic muscle fibre types. The fibres in red muscle fatigue slowly, whereas the fibres in white muscle fatigue rapidly. This is why chicken appears to be a white meat, because the chickens are not able to exercise. Chickens bred in the open that are able to exercise actually appear to have red meat because of the red muscle gained from the exercise.
Effectively, both Cecil and this person seem to be saying that chickens do have red meat if they exercise. Just don’t expect it to look the same as beef red meat.
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2003, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-meat-chicken-vs-red-meat-cows/180998/7 "2003-06-11T11:42:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by GilaB \*
> No, dark meat is the thigh/bottom of the chicken, and white meat is the breast/top. Red meat comes from cows and such.
Could you explain this distinction in more detail? I’m having a heck of a time understanding it.