Rumaki (1950); Kobe Beef (1959) and Wagyu (1971)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   The ProQuest LOS ANGELES TIMES is now at May 1953.  We'll have "Murphy's Law" in a week or two, and maybe "the whole nine yards" by year's end.
   Thanks to Mark Mandel for knowing "Chocolatese" and correcting an error.

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RUMAKI

   I had posted 1957, from the NEW YORK TIMES.


Islands Thrill Largest Cargo of Southlanders
Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Apr 23, 1950. p. C7 (1 page):
   Set off by shrimp, rumaki, egg roll, rum punches in bamboo cups, ami amis and other variegated hula motions, Don (Don the Beachcomber, of Hawaii--ed.) emerged as a tired Tahitian beachcomber to execute his own version of aboriginal terpsichore.

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KOBE BEEF AND WAYGU

   Neither "Kobe Beef" nor "Wagyu" is in the OED.  The basketball player Kobe Bryant was named after Kobe Beef, a "Wagyu" that comes from Kobe, Japan.  They are famous in the United States for being very expensive.
   Japanese food is all over the Los Angeles area, but there isn't anything much in the LOS ANGELES TIMES to May 1953.

KOBE BEEF--14,300 Google hits
KOBE STEAK--1,610 Google hits
KOBE MEAT--57 Google hits
WAGYU--12,100 Google hits

   From the NEW YORK SUN, 3 December 2003, pg. 19, col. 1:

_The Steak Debate_
_What's the Difference Between Wagyu and Prime Beef?_
By PAUL LUKAS
(...)  "Wagyu" (pronounced "WAH-gyu") literally means Japanese cattle, but that's a misnomer, because the breed is actually native to the Asian mainland and was brought to Japan in the second century.
(...)  Depending on the cut, the Prime steaks ranged from $33 to $60 a pound--not cheap, but a relative bargain compared to the Wagyus, which ran from $53 to $118 a pound.
(...)  ...while the Wagyus were only a small step up from Prime.  Is that step enough to justify the huge price difference?  Personally, I don't think so.


(GOOGLE)
http://members.tripod.com/~BayGourmet/wagyu.html
Kobe Beef vs Wagyu cattle: What is this stuff, anyways?

Kobe Beef is a legendary delicacy of Japan, a type of beef that is so well marbled that it goes right off the charts for Prime grading in any other country. The meat ends up looking like it has been left out in the snow because of the intensiveness of the white fat marbling, rivals foie gras for richness and caloric content, and costs an obscene amount, often $300 a pound or more for the real thing from Japan.

I have been exhaustively researching the topic of Kobe Beef in the hopes of purchasing one of those legendary cattle for about a year, since I had heard that they were ranched successfully in the United States for sale to a hungry Japanese market. I finally succeeded, but it wasn't an easy task. Here's why.

Let's start with the basics—Kobe beef comes from a breed of cattle called Wagyu. In order to earn the designation/appellation of "Kobe Beef", the Wagyu beef must come from Kobe, Japan, and meet rigid production standards imposed in that prefecture.

However, land and grain are expensive in Japan. So what is happening is that the beef production houses in Kobe have been contracting out to other producers to custom raise their cattle for them. Most specifically, Harris Ranch in California, among other producers in America and Australia—land and grain is cheap over there, and it's worth the shipping costs to have the cattle raised overseas. So they have the cattle raised to their exactingly specified Kobe standards, and they actually fabricate the carcasses in Kobe, making them legally "Kobe Beef" even though the cattle were actually born, bred and fed somewhere else.

The "Wagyu beef" designation can legally be applied to the meat from any cattle of the Wagyu breed; it's a genetic thing, not a place appellation or a reference to how the cattle were raised and fed. This breed is genetically predisposed to intense marbling, and produces a higher percentage of oleaginous, unsaturated fat than any other breed of cattle known in the world.

The reason for this is that Japan has been selectively breeding for marbling grade for centuries, while cattle ranchers in America relied on external conformation until just a few decades ago. Even today, carcass evaluation is a relatively new step in show judging, and only beginning to be a factor in the professional stud books of other countries.

Okay, why is it so bloody expensive and hard to find?

In summary, Wagyu cattle are astounding in yield grade and marbling, significantly superior in this respect to any other known breed. So why aren't more farmers ranching them in America?

Simple. Not enough of a market. The massive supermarket chains (Safeway, Lucky, FoodsCo, etc) carry Select grade beef which has minimal marbling. They restructured and lowered the grading of beef itself at one point (I think in the 1940's, but I could be mistaken on this) to reflect a more conservation conscious economy, because cattle fed out to a lower ratio of marbling were a more efficient return on resources. So today's Select grade beef (which is below Prime and below Choice) is lean indeed, the equivalent of pre-war Good grade.

While Wagyu beef has healthier fat (if there is such a thing!) and less waste backfat that American breeds, lean and skinny it is not, and the market for high prime beef is very limited in America. It's fit to mass market only in Japan, so there it all goes, even if it's largely ranched elsewhere these days.

Annoyingly, when we in America want to purchase Wagyu, we have one of two options: we can buy it shipped back over from Japan at some insane cost per pound that includes two transoceanic fares, or we can try to track down an independent Wagyu rancher who will sell one carcass. This is harder than you think.



(PROQUEST HISTORICAL CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR)
TRAVEL/EDITOR'S DIARY
by Leavitt F. morris. Christian Science Monitor (1908-Current file). Boston, Mass.: Nov 23, 1965. p. 15 (1 page):
   Then came the elaborate menu offering such choices as Kobe beef, lamb chops, or chicken, and all that goes with them.  This sumptuous meal was served prior to the fueling stop in Tokyo.


(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEW YORK TIMES)
Display Ad 21 -- No Title
New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: May 26, 1959. p. 21 (1 page):
   One special delicacy served on Northwest flights out of Tokyo is filet mignon from world famous Kobe Beef.

Japan Pampers Contented Cows; Favor Is Returned in Steaks
Special to The New York Times.. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Nov 13, 1960. p. 127 (1 page):
   Not all of this beef comes from Matsuzaka, whose fine product is less well known abroad than "Kobe beef," so called because so much of the output of the cattle-raising centers in southern Honshu us shipped through that busy port on the Pacific side of the island.  (...)
   Twice a day, every day, the animal is brushed and given a rubdown with a bundle of rough rice straw after being sprayed with "shochu," a cheap, potent potato distillation favored as an intoxicating drink by Japanese lower classes.

FAIR'S KITCHENS: STUDIES IN STEEL
By CRAIG CLAIBORNE. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Apr 20, 1964. p. 25 (1 page):
   Hank Takeshi Takahashi, as assistant manager, said that the Kobe beef for the restaurant will be flown in from Japan.  Kobe beef, one of the most tender beefs, comes from animals that are massaged and fed beer before they are slaughtered.

A Pampered Life Ends as Steak at $14 a Pound
By JAMES P. STERBA Special to The New York Times. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Nov 8, 1971. p. 48 (1 page):
   Many Americans have heard of or tasted Kobe beef, but in Japan these days Matsuzaka beef is considered superior. (...)   Matsuzaka and Kobe cows are the same breed--a Japanese shorthair called wagyu--and are raised essentially the same way, but cattlemen here insist that their beef has more flavor.

Rich Japanese Beef Barred From U.S.
By BRYAN MILLER. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Apr 18, 1990. p. C1 (2 pages)

Rich Japanese Beef's Here. Call It Wagyu.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Nov 7, 1990. p. C9 (1 page)


(PROQUEST HISTORICAL WASHINGTON POST)
Kobe Beef -- From Pampered Pet to Costly Steak
By Rose Dosti Los Angeles Times. The Washington Post (1974-Current file). Washington, D.C.: Jul 27, 1978. p. E20 (1 page)


(TRADEMARKS)
Word Mark
KOBE BEEF

Goods and Services
(ABANDONED) IC 029. US 046. G & S: PACKAGED CUT MEATS FROM REGISTERED WAGYU BEEF CATTLE. FIRST USE: 19760226. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19760226

Mark Drawing Code
(1) TYPED DRAWING

Serial Number
73707432

Filing Date
January 25, 1988

Current Filing Basis
1A

Original Filing Basis
1A

Owner
(APPLICANT) WAGYU BREEDERS, INC. CORPORATION TEXAS BOX 187 ROUTE 1 ROSEBUD TEXAS 76570

Attorney of Record
J. D. SHERLOCK, JR.

Description of Mark
NO CLAIM IS MADE AS TO COLOR.

Type of Mark
TRADEMARK

Register
PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator
DEAD

Abandonment Date
November 7, 1988


(JSTOR)
(in Review Section)
Beef in Japan: Politics, Production, Marketing and Trade
John W. Longworth

Technological Change in Japan's Beef Industry
James Simpson; Tadashi Yoshida; Akira Miyazaki; Ryohei Kada

Review author[s]: Fred H. Sanderson

Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1. (Winter, 1987), pp. 224-229.