Eating meat was something that many people could afford in the Middle Ages. With the growth of the Amsterdam population from the sixteenth century, that was no longer the case. The herd could not grow with the population growth and so eating meat became something reserved for the elite.
For that piece of meat, between the late sixteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, you could go to the NES. There was a small and a large meat hall. Both halls were there before they became a meat hall. The large meat hall was once the place of the former Sint Pieterskapel, which belonged to the Sint Pietersgasthuis.
The small meat hall was once the chapel of the Margrietenklooster. You wouldn’t say it anymore, but the Nes was once the place where countless monasteries were. After the alteration in 1578, the Catholic city council was dropped off. All Catholic institutions were given a different destination.