Buffalo vs. Bison: Different Animals

Filed in archive Morsels of Info , News , Traditions on May 11, 2006

Buffalo meat is now kosher in Israel, reports the Jerusalem Post. Hmmm... but buffalo meat is already kosher in the US, isn't it? Certainly, but the buffalo as known in Israel and most of the Middle East, Africa and Asia is not the same animal in the US. Oh.

Let's see where the confusion lies.

Remember our post on water buffalo milk?

The water buffalo has been with humans since pre-historic times. Originally from Asia, it has been used as a beast of burden especially in rice-growing regions. They were later introduced in parts of Africa and Near East around 600 A.D. and were introduced to southern Europe during the Middle Ages. It has only been recently that the water buffalo has been farmed as livestock in Western European and US and where its products - milk, cheese and meat - have been domestically produced.

It's the same animal (Bubalus bubalis or Bubalus carabanesis, picture on the left) while the American buffalo (picture on the right) is actually the bison (Bison bison).

The term buffalo is also commonly but inaccurately used to refer to North American bison (remember the song "Home on the Range"? Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and antelope play...). These are much more woolly, have shorter horns with a higher humped-backs than water buffaloes. It is the meat of the bison which has been certified kosher and is sold in North America such as in the Buffalo Shop.

Woodstock Water Buffalo is the only store I know which sells water buffalo products but it's a dairy and doesn't sell meat.

With its kosher certification, it is seen that water buffalo meat will soon be sold in Israeli stores nationwide. Buffaloes were said to have been slaughtered by shochets (men who were authorised to slaughter animals according to methods that made them kosher) as late as the 1940s. The Italian Jewish community have a tradition of eating buffalo milk and meat.

As for the rest of the world, buffalo meat is eaten in many parts of Asia where it is called carabeef. I have personally eaten buffalo meat. It almost tastes like beef but its flavour is more intense.

Related article on Arutz Sheva Israel´s Water Buffalo Deemed Kosher.