Many foodies, meat aficionados and like-minded folk have a holy grail, for most it is to taste the crème de la crème of beef, wagyu. The word conjures up images of beautiful fatty flavoursome beef or daydreams where cows are pampered with classical music and drink beer as part of their diet.. But let us bring you the truth of this beefy legend.

Real wagyu comes from Japan, the name loosely translated means ‘Japanese cow’ and in Japan, four cattle breeds make up the wagyu beef breeds: Japanese Black, Japanese Brown, Japanese Shorthorn and Japanese Polled. These breeds are uniquely different from the British, Australian and European breeds. They are medium-sized, hardy with a great temperament and of course there is the uniqueness to their meet.

Wagyu beef’s most distinguished attribute lies in its marbled appearance, it has higher intra-muscular fat than other breeds, its texture is finer and it is very flavoursome. These yummy beasts originated as beasts of burden in olden times but their love affair with the Japanese people extend so deep that in 1997 the Japanese Government declared wagyu as a national treasure and banned exports of the cattle to other countries. Of course, exported cattle from Japan do exist pre-1997, which caused countries like the U.S.A, Australia and South Africa to have their own ‘wagyu-crossbreeds’ but even if those cattle produce wonderful meat, let us be honest, crossbreeds are not real wagyu.

As to the question of why this beautiful beef tastes so good, it has nothing to do with the urban myths that these cows go to a cattle spa every day, live on a diet of beer and gourmet food. Nice fantasy genre myth, but the secret to wagyu is good breeding and genes, from living in Japan and being fed a healthy special diet made up of grains. And a myth that is true is that these cattle do live longer than most other breeds, which improve the flavour, the cows can live up to three years, where normal beef cattle have a lifespan of 15 months.

Oh and a culinary tip: Kobe beef is a wagyu beef but not all beef is Kobe. This is because Kobe meat comes from Kobe prefecture, so if you buy wagyu and the label reads that it’s Kobe, but the label says that it is a product from Australia or wherever else, it is a lie. Kobe beef comes only from Japan. It does not mean the meat you are buying is not good quality meat, it is just lying about the Kobe part, shame on them. We have more about this fact in one of the videos below.