the problem I had with the story is, exactly what type of existence do these aliens have? Why would they refer to other races as meat if they were not similar, biological lifeforms?
Meat is a term used to denote food, not a life form type.
I am pretty sure the aliens are not actually speaking in English, and if they are really non-human, does their communication even resemble our languages?
So having a problem with what an English term used in a story because it doesn't have quite the kind of meaning you think aliens would use seems rather inconsistent.
> Actually meat just means meat. It's not just a word for a food, it's a specific kind of organic "substance".
Unless it refers to food, you'd usually see the word "flesh" instead of "meat". Or, depending on how specific you were being "muscle tissue", or "fatty tissue".
The ship Grey Area, aka Meatfucker, from Ian Banks books has already been mentioned and the term meat is often used by the A.I. ships.
Meatspace is commonly used as an antonym to cyberspace and in Gibson's neuromancer trilogy, Molly used to be a meat-puppet and Case feels trapped in the meat.
You may not like this usage, but it has been well established for decades now.
Unless their language makes no distinction between flesh and meat. It's all a matter of semantics anyways, the story might as well have been "They're Made Out of Carbon" and remained technically correct, but would have lost much of its charm.
Meat is a term used to denote food, not a life form type.