The French nickname 'rosbif' for the English goes back to the Napoleonic wars thanks to our historic association with it.
According to the RSPCA, the number of beef breeding cows in the UK was around 1.6 million in 2013, which is one for every 17 households. I'd say that's pretty respectable, albeit about quarter the rate of the US.
We taught the French how to cook beef (OK sort of).
Originally, the French boiled their beef but during a siege of Paris by British troops, they noticed that our troops cooked theirs over the fire/griddle. The rest is history.
The word beef is derived from boeuf. Biftek is derived from beef steak. So you have a borrow word that has really done the rounds!
In most languages, the name of the meat is the same (or similar to) the animal it comes from.
In English, the name of the meat was derived from the French aristocrats who were running the country hundreds of years ago, and while peasants referred to animals by name, the aristocrats referred to the food by the name they knew it as - which is why in English we have two names for these things, but other languages generally only have one.
It's funny, since I turned to farming, I find myself referring to the meat I eat as the name of the animal rather than those you see on the packaging in the grocery store. It started off as humour and kind of stuck. Cowburger, pig chops... oddly I still call chicken and turkey the same thing :P
According to the RSPCA, the number of beef breeding cows in the UK was around 1.6 million in 2013, which is one for every 17 households. I'd say that's pretty respectable, albeit about quarter the rate of the US.