Since the early 1990's, NASA has included beef jerky in astronauts' diets because it is lightweight, high in protein and doesn't require refrigeration.

The practice of drying meat for preservation is thousands of years old, but modern jerky's name comes from the Quechua wordch'arki. Early forms of jerky were made by Native Americans in the Andes Mountains and were also used by ancient Egyptians.

Dried meat preparations like jerky can be found around the world in many forms, such as Biltong from South Africa, Carne Seca from Mexico, and Dendeng from Indonesia.