I know what cartilage is, but I was looking for the every day synonym to the word in the context of meat and eating, not in the context of human anatomy.
I found out that gristle maybe the informal synonym I was looking for, but I want to confirm what I think before adopting the word.
Note that gristle was described as a nontechnical name under the definition of cartilage.
Update:
The reason I am asking is that my daughter asked me about the name of that kinda white solid matter covering the end of a bone while she was eating a chicken thigh. I told her it is called cartilage, but then this is more of a technical term than an everyday word for a child to use.
Best Answer
People sometimes call cartilage "soft bone". This is used in the context of eating, as in, "Johny, you can eat the soft bone on that chicken drumstick, you know!". "Soft bone? That's silly, mommy!"
The Wikipedia page "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_bone" redirects to Cartilage.
People are justified in using "soft bone" because cartilage is related to bone. Some cartilage projects from bone, and continues the same shape or profile. Some cartilage turns into bone via ossification.