What is the difference between Wagyu cattle and Kobe Beef?
The word “Wagyu” refers to all Japanese beef cattle. ‘Wa’ means Japanese or Japanese-style and ‘gyu’ means cattle. There are two main Wagyu breed types, black and red, and several strains of each. Kobe refers to beef from cattle raised in the Kobe region of Japan. Japan’s rugged terrain created isolated pockets in which different breeding and feeding techniques were used. This resulted in distinctly different characteristics of the beef, notably the intensity of the marbling which produces a very rich taste.
