People have eaten the flesh of bovines since prehistoric times; some of the earliest known cave paintings, such as those of Lascaux, show aurochs in hunting scenes. People domesticated cattle to provide ready access to beef, milk, and leather. Cattle have been domesticated at least twice over the course of evolutionary history. The first domestication event occurred around 10,500 years ago with the evolution of Bos taurus. The second was more recent, around 7,000 years ago, with the evolution of Bos indicus in the Indian subcontinent. There is a possible third domestication event 8,500 years ago, with a potential third species Bos africanus arising in Africa.

Most beef can be used as is by merely cutting into certain parts, such as roasts, short ribs or steak (filet mignon, sirloin steak, rump steak, rib steak, rib eye steak, hanger steak, etc.), while other cuts are processed (corned beef or beef jerky). Trimmings, on the other hand, which are usually mixed with meat from older, leaner (therefore tougher) cattle, are ground, minced or used in sausages. The blood is used in some varieties called blood sausage. Other parts that are eaten include other muscles and offal, such as the oxtail, liver, tongue, tripe from the reticulum or rumen, glands (particularly the pancreas and thymus, referred to as sweetbread), the heart, the brain (although forbidden where there is a danger of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, commonly referred to as mad cow disease), the kidneys, and the tender testicles of the bull (known in the United States as calf fries, prairie oysters, or Rocky Mountain oysters). Some intestines are cooked and eaten as is, but are more often cleaned and used as natural sausage casings. The bones are used for making beef stock. Meat from younger cows (calves) is called veal. Beef from steers and heifers is similar.

he word beef is from the Latin word bōs, in contrast to cow which is from Middle English cou (both words have the same Indo-European root *gʷou-). This is one example of the common English dichotomy between the words for animals (with largely Germanic origins) and their meat (with Romanic origins) that is also found in such English word-pairs as pig/pork, deer/venison, sheep/mutton, and chicken/poultry (also the less common goat/chevon). Beef is cognate with bovine through the Late Latin bovīnus. The rarely used plural form of beef is beeves.

Cuts of Beef (British, Irish,Australian, South African and New Zealand terms):

Cuts of Beef:
Tongue — boiling, pickling, roasting or braising
Necks and clod — stewing, slow smoking or braising
Chuck steak & blades — mincing, braising, slow roasting
Sirloin — Frying, roasting, barbecuing
Rump — Frying, barbecuing
Silverside — Roasting
Topside — Roasting, pies, air drying
Top rump — Roasting, barbecuing
Fore rib — Roasting
Rib eye steak — Frying
T-bone steak — Frying
Thick rib — Braising, barbecuing, roasting
Thin rib — Braising, barbecuing
Brisket (Skirt steak) — Baking, boiling, roasting, braising
Shin and leg — Mince, slow stewing, braising
Flank — Barbecued, grilled, braised
Thick flank — Barbecued, grilled, braised
Feather blade — Frying, braising
Fillet — Frying, tartare
Oxtail — Stew, braising
Offal — typically liver, heart, stomach, intestines and kidneys