Picture dictionary of meat
Here you can find how to name the meat of different animals.
I think you have noticed that in English language they call food animals by one name like cows, pigs, etc. and by another name on the dinner table - beef, pork, etc. In one hand it could be because we’re uncomfortable with being reminded of the fact that the food on our plate was once part of a living animal. It’s an argument that makes a fair amount of emotional sense—but, as it happens, it’s not actually true. The true reason goes back to the history when England was ruled by the Normans and French was the language of the nobility. During these days English was spoken only by the Saxon serfs in the fields. So, it’s little surprise, then, that the English language has retained Saxon words for describing farm animals, but has also adopted French terms for meat. Paraphrasing William Godwin, a well-known English journalist and philosopher from the 18th century, it could be put it like this:
"The Anglo-Saxon words “cow,” “sheep,” and “pig” survived among peasants who tended the animals, while the animals as food became “veil,” “mutton,” and “pork” after the Norman lords who ate them."