Wagyu Fun Facts

What is Wagyu?

Wagyu is a Japanese beef cattle breed, which can be consumed. Wagyu refers to all Japanese beef cattle, where ‘Wa’ means Japanese and ‘gyu’ means cow. According to wagyu.org:

-Wagyu beef cattle were originally draft animals used in agriculture, and were selected for their physical endurance.

-This selection favored animals with more intra-muscular fat cells – ‘marbling’ – which provided a readily available energy source.

-Wagyu is a horned breed and the cattle are either black or red in color.

History of Wagyu in the US

In 1976, Morris Whitney brought over four Wagyu bulls from Japan (named Mazda, Mt. Fuji, Rueshaw and Judo) and the American Wagyu was born. Well, more accurately it was born after the bulls were crossbred with American Angus cattle.

Eventually, four Black Wagyu females were brought to the states in 1993 to allow the breeding of full-blooded Wagyu Stateside. A few hundred more followed them in the years after until in 1997, the Japanese government decreed that the Wagyu breed of cattle was a national treasure and banned the export of the breed. So American ranchers had to breed and raise with the genetic lines already introduced to America. That has led to a total herd of Wagyu in the US that’s around 40,000 total with about 5,000 of them being full-blood Wagyu.

How does Wagyu beef taste?

Wagyu beef has been described as having a “unique taste” as it is very tender and appears highly marbled.

Accordingly to Eataly, you’ll find that Wagyu has a “buttery, yet firm texture and lustrous, red colour It’s a very juicy style of beef with some serious umami flavour. Although it has a strong beefy taste, it’s more “sweet” than “greasy.””