和牛

I'm thinking of a Japanese food. Beef in particular. It involves a cow that is fed a diet of beer and sake . This cow receives massages everyday so that its meat is tender and comes out in a nice marble pattern. What am I thinking of??

If you said Kobe Beef, I can't blame you. This is the most popular type of 和牛 (Wagyu, Japanese Beef) in America, but is by no means the only type of Japanese beef that receives this special massage and beer treatment. Also, Kobe Beef is pronounced Koh Bay, not Koh Bee

Not Beef

Yonezawa, Matsusaka, Mishima and Sanda are also famous Japanese beef brands, they are just not as well known in America. I haven't eaten any meat for some time now, so I have never tried these, but I don't think I would even want to. Not because of a moral objection, (because frankly these cows have a better life than I do) but a health and money conscious objection.

It is important to know that these meats, while insanely expensive, are not at all healthy. They are famous for their high fat-meat ratio. That marble pattern in the beef is a whole lot of fat, though it may not be possible to ingest enough to be unhealthy because you would go bankrupt before that would ever happen. Seriously, about 200 grams of this stuff is around 2万円. That's 8oz for $200 for you western folk.

Sure, you can justify that price if you really want to give this stuff a try....OR you could purchase chu-hais and beer for all your friends and not be a selfish jerk...just sayin'