Eli5: Is there any particular reason on why we mostly eat cow/chicken meat instead of other animals? Are these healthier or is there another reason?

Question

Eli5: Is there any particular reason on why we mostly eat cow/chicken meat instead of other animals? Are these healthier or is there another reason?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Mostly because they (along with fish and pork) are domesticated and easy to handle. They’re also relatively dumb compared to other animals, because they’ve been bred that way. It’s hard to farm non-domesticated animals. Though you can hunt or trap some, they might be a bit wild and gamey, and wouldn’t produce anywhere near the mass quantities of meat that we eat.

In the U.S., raccoon used to be popular long ago, and was a traditional Thanksgiving meal until [Calvin Coolidge decided to keep one for a pet instead](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/did-president-always-pardon-turkey). But raccoons are too smart to be farmed. So now we eat turkeys instead.