Beef brains and veal (juvenile beef) or calf's brains are used in the cuisines of France; Italy; Spain; El Salvador; Mexico, etc. where they are called sesos in Spanish and are eaten in tacos and quesadillas; Pakistan and Bangladesh also in parts of India like Kolkata and Kerala, where they are known in Urdu and Bengali as Maghaz; Portugal; and Indonesia.

Calf's brains, or cervelle de veau, is a traditional delicacy in Europe and Morocco. It is the brain of a calf consumed as meat. It is often served with tongue, sauteed with beurre noir and capers, or mixed with scrambled eggs. In Italy, cervella fritte is a popular dish made of bite-sized batter-fried morsels of beef brain. Beef brains have a mushy texture and very little inherent flavor and are typically flavored with sauces such as chile sauce and sauce ravigote.

Outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, commonly known as mad-cow disease) led to legislation to reduce risks of contracting the human variant of the illness by consumption of beef brains and spines.