Kobe beef prices... will they ever come down?

[TATTRAT]

I have no issue eating a cloned cow.

Wouldn't you rater buy a consistently superior product? A product that will be the same today as it will be 2 months from now? This is a case where I think cloning can be a benefit. We have to breed cows anyways, why not breed the BEST!

Like a cloned Christmas tree, the perfect one every time, great color, great fill, just "perfect", would you buy it and use it, or say "no, it is cloned".

[Eriu]

I've never seen Kobe beef in my area. If I did, I would probably have sticker shock also.

Although, I would love to try it at least once.

[lyndalou]

I paid $92.00 yesterday for a regular beef tenderloin @ 18.49 per pound. That floored me; can't imagine spending more than that. It's for my DH's b'day party this weekend. He is well worth it and so are our friends. There will be 26 of us here. The beef is for sandwiches. All finger foods, since there is no way I can seat that many people at a table or tables in my little house.


Wish me luck.

[AustinFoodie123]

I have had the same trouble finding quality Kobe Beef that I could afford. Being in Texas, many people sort of look at me like I'm a heretic by suggesting anything other than a prime sirloin.

I have actually found a website for kobe beef that has delivered fresh, fast and quality meat every time. I actually found them through a friend that bought some other exotic meats there, but when I saw their kobe beef I had to give it a try.

I highly recommend this site for good quality and hopefully it will help you with happy cooking and happy eating! LINK REMOVED

[stinemates]

Why would a link be removed to a site that offers food? Is there forums there? I wish I had lurked a bit sooner :\

[Maverick2272]

It is removed because he has less than 20 posts. You cannot post links until after you have posted 20 times.
PM him and ask for it if you want.

[stinemates]

Thanks for reminding me of that rule :)

[BrazenAmateur]

I think that prices might come down simply because I think people are applying the title of "Kobe Beef" to more and more of the beef out there.

TECHNICALLY, the only thing that really qualifies for the moniker are real Tajima cattle from the Kobe region (Hyogo) that have been raised in the traditional fashion. Only a few hundred farms, most of which offer less than 15 cows/year, truly qualify for this title.

Many restaurants and purveyors have begun to term any/all Wagyu cattle as "Kobe Beef", however this is most definitely not the case. Wagyu is simply the Japanese word for their assorted domestic cattle breeds, and Tajima is thus a type of Wagyu.

Real Kobe beef must be raised in the traditional fashion, in confinement and with the benefit of a very closely-monitored diet. It is VERY expensive to raise beef in this fashion.

Technically, there isn't any reason why you couldn't do this outside of Japan, and some people absolutely ARE doing it, but the sad fact is that much of the Wagyu beef called "Kobe Beef" is not, or uses only a portion of the process for cost reasons.


Now, this doesn't mean that all the Californian and Australian Wagyu out there isn't absolutely delicious, because it is. IMO it's no less delicious than the "real deal", however it's also generally served differently. True Kobe Beef is almost white with marbling and can be averse to high heat, and so one does not typically use a normal "steak" preparation. It is often actually served raw (the only way I've ever had it, the one time I did). Most of the other Wagyu out there, on the other hand, tends to get prepared more like a normal steak due to it's consistency, and it makes a great steak.

[Bigjim68]

As I understand Kobe, the cost is primarily in its rarity and the cost of production, mostly labor and the space required to raise it vs pouring feed in a trough in a feed yard. Economics decrees that rarity increases production, and, if the market is there, the cost should go down. Labor costs are rising in the US, so, Kobe, like many products, will probably be outsourced to countries like Argentina, which is ideally suited for its production. I don't believe that there is any truth in labelling in the term Kobe, so, I agree that the quailty will probably go down. As for cloned food, you are already eating a lot of it. Also, there is very little difference between genetically altered, and selectively bred.

[BBQ Mikey]

The way things are going right now, Id have to say prices would be more liable to rise than to fall. Kobe beef is the Mercedez Benz of steak, you get what you pay for.