Food - News
Why You Should Think Twice Before Ordering A Wagyu Beef Burger
By KAREENA KOIRALA
The crème de la crème of beef, wagyu beef, comes from a special breed of cattle native to Japan, and is a delicacy most popularly enjoyed as a steak. One unusual way of eating wagyu is by grinding it up into burger meat, but here’s why you should reconsider shelling out the money for a wagyu beef burger in America.
In 2010, the USDA banned the import of all Japanese beef to the United States, but the ban was lifted in 2012, and as of 2018, nearly 600 pounds of Kobe beef was imported to the U.S. In 2022, less than 20 restaurants served genuine Kobe, so you'd be hard-pressed to find an authentic wagyu burger at your local restaurant.
Japanese Wagyu and Kobe are purebred, but in America, you are more likely to find crossbred wagyu beef. Real wagyu beef has distinct fat marbling that looks like white veins across the meat, which is what gives it such a rich flavor, so without the ability to verify, the price of a "wagyu" burger might not be worth it.