What is the difference between Kobe beef and Wagyu beef?
Location, location, location. Kobe Beef is a legendary delicacy of Japan, a type of beef that is so well marbled that it goes right off the charts for prime grading in any other country. The meat ends up looking like it has been left out in the snow because of the intensiveness of the white fat marbling. Kobe beef comes from a breed of cattle called Wagyu. In order to earn the designation/appellation of “Kobe Beef”, the Wagyu beef must come from Kobe, Japan, and meet rigid production standards imposed in that prefecture. However, land and grain are expensive in Japan so beef production houses in Kobe have been contracting out to other producers mainly in Australia and the US to custom raise their cattle for them. Since they have the cattle raised to their exactingly specified Kobe standards, and they actually fabricate the carcasses in Kobe, this makes them legally Kobe Beef even though the cattle were actually born, bred and fed somewhere else. The “Wagyu beef” designation can legally
