Beef Not Cow

Ok, so I'm really trying to learn Luganda but living in a country that has more than 40 languages spoken (none of which are anything close to English) makes it a bit difficult. Just when I think I'm getting good at it (notice I said good and not fluent), it seems everything escapes from my head and I'm left speaking like a two year old.
Mary's English is getting much better but she still enjoys laughing at me trying to have a conversation with her in Luganda. Jacque just stubbornly refuses to speak in English to me. She'll try it with everyone else but it's as if she wants me to speak Luganda by force!
So, yesterday morning my friend Annet (who is another current roommate in my house) and I were trying to plan supper. Usually she cooks either the food (meaning rice, matooke, potatoes, etc.) from her shop and I cook the sauce from home or vice versa. We had decided that we all wanted matooke but the sauce was up for debate. I thought maybe beef since it's been a while since we've had meat.
Later that afternoon I was trying to ask Jacque if she likes beef. The word for beef completely escaped my memory. I kept thinking of every word similar to it but beef just wouldn't come. Finally, I just asked her if she liked cow. The words for cow and beef are totally different and have a completely different meaning. Beef is beef, you know the stuff you eat. Cow is the whole animal, horns and all.
After asking her is she wanted cow to eat, my lovely little girl just looked at my like I had grown another head, started laughing and told me politely that she doesn't eat cow but beef she likes.