There is no such things as kobe beef outside japan.

• Bamboo Ocean Army021

  28 Jul 13, 08:54

  One of Japan’s biggest culinary exports is Kobe beef, a high-end meat from purebred cows. Its quality is the stuff of legend. People say that the cows are massaged, played classical music, fed booze, and pampered in every way a cow possibly could be.

  Kobe beef has taken off outside of Japan in recent years. You can now find Kobe beef in restaurants all over the US, everything from Kobe beef steaks to Kobe beef sliders.

  At least, that’s the misconception.

  A Forbes exposé recently blew the lid off what it calls “food’s biggest scam.” The author says that if you’ve eaten Kobe beef outside of Japan, chances are you’ve been lied to and ripped off.

  Is this really the case? How could Kobe beef be such blatant fraud?

  What Is Kobe Beef?

  In Japan, Kobe beef is a very tightly controlled and regulated copyright. Only beef that meets a certain set of very strict standards can be labelled as Kobe beef.

  Kobe beef only comes from the Hyogo prefecture, and is named after Hyogo’s capital city, Kobe. While the cows from which Kobe beef comes from aren’t actually given the royal treatment of massages and watery Japanese beers, they’re still very particular about their cows.

  The beef comes from cows of a very specific breed and distinct lineage. You can trace back the family of a Kobe beef cow for generations and generations. You’ll even be able to tell exactly which cow your meat came from; it’s all given Portlandia levels of care and attention.

  Most importantly, the real, genuine article is served basically only in Japan. Since Kobe beef is so tightly regulated, it’s generally not allowed to be exported anywhere outside of Japan. (The only exception is Macau.)