Import demand for poultry has made it South Africa’s fastest growing meat product, while demand for beef, sheep, and goat meat is generally declining. Poultry was found to be a statistically significant substitute for pork and other meat (sheep, goat, and offal), but insignificant with respect to beef. Pork tends to be complementary to beef, though statistically insignificant. The article investigates which of three crucial factors are most affecting South Africa meat imports: (1) changes in consumer tastes and/or meat processing technology, (2) prices, or (3) scales indicating the total size of the imported meat market. Major findings showed that changes in taste-technology had a greater impact on increasing poultry and pork imports than changes in prices, even though poultry prices tended to increase less than the prices of beef, pork, and other meats, making it a better bargain.