The children of Israel, while in the wilderness, ask God for meat. Why did they do that when they had the animals they had brought with them from Egypt?
Thank you for your excellent question.
The preeminent commentator on the Torah, both Bible and Talmud, is the medieval, saintly Jewish scholar from France, Rabbi Shlomo Isaaci (1040-1105), affectionately known by the initials “Rashi”.
In his commentary to Numbers 11:4, Rashi asks the same question. He deflects the possibility that they did not bring any meat from Egypt, as it says in Exodus 12:38 that they did bring “flocks and cattle”. He also shows that they had not yet run out of meat, because in Numbers 32:1 it says that the tribe of Reuben “had much cattle”. In the end, based on a tradition recorded in the Midrash (see Sifrei Behaalosecha 1:42:4), he answers that they really did not lack meat, but the base elements among the people were merely seeking a false pretense to complain against Moses.
All the best.
Rabbi Joe Kolakowski