#FOODGASM Is the Word of the Day

We have gotten kind of used to the ‘oooh’s and ‘aaaah’s of our friends and family as they taste our beef. Hearing it never gets old.

And it’s completely gratifying to hear reviews like this one, from Amanda B. who ate our beef at Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino, CA, via Yelp.

Lone Mountain special cut and raised just for Alexander’s Steakhouse – hard to describe because my words can’t express how I feel when I got the first bite each and every time I come here. #FOODGASM would do it for now! Please forgive me, English is my 3rd language!

6 Fascinating Reads that Should Be on Your Radar

We’re constantly sharing content via our Twitter feed, some really interesting stories and trends we’re finding. In case you’re not on Twitter, here’s some of the best articles we found:

• Tomorrow’s “digital cooking”: a 3D printer can create food, even cook it, via edible inks and blueprint recipes.
• Fascinating article! “The Psychology Behind Yogurt”, or how the probiotics in yogurt reduce stress and anxiety.
• “The End of the Career Food Critic”: On the changing role of the food critic, an interesting read.
• 200 lbs per person per year of food is thrown away and wasted. The Solution: A War Against Food Waste.
• File this one under “Never knew, Hardly Cared, Glad I Know”: “The History of Meatloaf”.
• Two Big Thumbs up to Slow Money: “Life After Fast Money and Fast Food”.

7 Hot Trending Topics You Missed This Week

We’re constantly sharing content via our Twitter feed, some really interesting stories and trends we’re finding. In case you’re not on Twitter, here’s some of the best articles we found:

• Restaurants trend report indicates almost half (45%) of respondents consider themselves “meat lovers” and that the average US diner eats 250 restaurant meals per year.
• TIME Magazine article about a fascinating culinary search for the best steak that leads the author to Spain. (Naturally, yours truly wonders if she ever made it to New Mexico to find the best steak.)
• Bill Niman discusses confusion in the marketplace due to array of often misleading labels, like “organic” and “humane” and “natural”.
• The Atlantic explores how the locavore movement has pushed for deregulation of animal slaughter. The trend might bring more local, small scale production of food (at residences even) but will surely lead to inhumane treatment.
• Cooking Up A Story showcases women who are changing the way we eat.
• New documentary American Meat could be the much-needed balanced dialogue about food issues. (We got on our soap box and gave a little skewering, no pun intended, to the decidedly imbalanced Food, Inc.)
• Fast Company highlights a project called Freshlist, a text message–based marketplace that connects sellers and buyers of local produce to insure that none of the supply goes to waste.

Testimonials from Michelin-Star Chef and Wagyu Connoisseur

Lone Mountain Wagyu Strip Steak in Alexanders Steakhouse

We have been selling our Fullblood Wagyu beef to Alexanders Steakhouse in Northern California for almost a year and a half now. Chef Jeffrey Stout was one of our first customers and has believed in us from the get-go, showcasing our ribeye, strips and filet mignon alongside Japanese A5 Wagyu and Cabassi Rei from Australia.

Over the course of our partnership with them, Chef Stout has sent some glowing remarks, and he has invited us to share some of them here.

• Chef Stout, back in October 2010: “As far as Domestic Wagyu goes, I still believe Lone Mountain is the best I have experienced and I know there is still room for improvement.”
• This June 2011: “The last batch I received was phenomenal. The quality keeps getting better and better with each harvest. Wonderful mouthfeel on the ribeye.”

“American Meat”: A Solutions-Oriented Documentary

We’re hopeful about this one, folks. American Meat is currently hosting local screenings around the country, and if the trailer is any indication, this should be a really great piece of work. We are in dire need of a popular media adjustment on the topic of American meat production. There are very real and pressing issues out there: like how to keep and encourage more small ranchers and farmers to be in the business, how to make it a sustainable option for producers from a financial standpoint, how to encourage sustainable practices without further shrinking revenues, how to curb the industry’s consolidation, etc. etc.

Unfortunately, the public dialogue about American meat has been driven, by and large, by a few extremist perspectives on the subject. In particular, I’m thinking of Food, Inc., which propped up the truly horrifying conditions in a truly small niche of American food production, and called it systemic and widespread. The sensationalist slant got the documentary a hugely popular following amongst a growing segment of the population who cares about where there food comes from. But most ranchers and farmers we know and have spoken with, even some companies that might fall under the much-demonized “Big Ag” umbrella, are completely innocent of anything akin to the atrocities portrayed in that documentary. Call us what you will, but we think “Food, Inc.” was irresponsible and sensationalist. It shed a light, but ended up demonizing meat production through and through.

What we need is a balanced and circumspect discussion about the challenges to sustainable agriculture. And we hope that American Meat brings that to the table.

12 Hot Trending Topics You Missed This Week

We’re constantly sharing content via our Twitter feed, some really interesting stories and trends we’re finding. In case you’re not on Twitter, here’s some of the best articles we found:

• Hot trend: Food Trucks Are Still Booming, says National Restaurant Association http://ow.ly/6pSr1
• Reminder to New Yorkers, you can help affected farmers by dining out on 9/25: dineoutirene.com
• Great story from a Brooklyn butcher: “Hi, My Name is Tom and I’m a Farmoholic”: http://ow.ly/6oPFk via @gilttaste
• Zagat Survey has been acquired by Google: zagat buzz
• This looks fantastic: “American Meat”, a solutions-oriented macroscopic documentary: http://ow.ly/6oHYK @AmericanMeat
• Wagyu oil wins best new product at Sydney Fine Food 2011 exhibition. Wondering if we should start selling Wagyu fat: http://ow.ly/6od3t
• Wow – more on devastating fires in Texas – Video shows how fast the Bastrop State Park fire moves http://ow.ly/6o9QB
• Great topic: What food trends are rising and declining? http://ow.ly/6nfxW
• Thought-provoking article: “A Bone to Pick: How ethical is sustainable, natural meat? Is it better to be a vegetarian?” (Answer: done sustainably, using holistic systems, like we do, can be a win-win for all.) gu.com/p/3xhjv/tw
• Canadian consumers are slow to embrace natural and organic beef: http://ow.ly/6mKU4
• Letter from an Irene-affected NY farmer. Let’s remember, “our appetites are fed by the tireless work of farmers”: http://ow.ly/6mEkA
• Trend towards evermore transparency, as restaurants are pushed to disclose meat seasoning in seemingly meatless dishes: bit.ly/q66R93

What breeds of cattle are there in Japan?

There’s an interesting question from Twitter user @yoheinakajima about what other types of breeds of cattle are in Japan.

The long answer would require a lot of hypotheses and sources, but the short answer is this:

In Japan there’s Wagyu, there’s Holstein and a variety of crossbreeds. Holstein steers provide a great deal of the domestic Japanese beef market (also in the U.S.). As far as Wagyu in Japan, there’s black Wagyu, brown Wagyu (akaushi – sometimes called Red Wagyu, especially in US), Shorthorn Wagyu, and Polled Wagyu. There’s also Mishima(from the island of Mishima, but totally Japanese with no other infusion from continental breeds), Holstein (dairy cows, versus the steers mentioned above), and a few other Angus and miscellaneous other cows left over… But this latter group can be counted on your fingers.

The numbers are a little rough, but here goes: the numbers of Holstein are roughly twice the size of the Wagyu herd in Japan, but account for almost 70% of the beef production.The Black Wagyu come in second (something like 750,000, or 85% of the Wagyu population) with smaller numbers of Brown (Red) Wagyu (perhaps 75,000), and then down to 10,000 Shorthorn and maybe 5,000 Polled Wagyu. Mishima is numbered in the hundreds.

Some additional resources (downloads):

• Japanese Beef Market Segmentation
• Japan labeling
• Wagyu history (author, Professor Kiyoshi Namikawa)

Thanks to @yoheinakajima for the question and to @RedPrimeSteak for opening up the forum

And the Winner Is…: Consumer Reviews of Lone Mountain Wagyu

We’ve gotten some great feedback from our customers since we launched last week. And it’s not that we intend to Yelp every bit of customer feedback we get, but some reviews are just so good. Our marketing person (yours truly) couldn’t have written it better. So here it is, from Peter and Lorraine in Oregon. Thanks you two!

We received some ground beef a couple of days ago.  Wow!  Gee-Haw…… Ay Chiwawa.  The best hamburgers in recent or faded memory. No crumbs or eggs added. Just some salt and pepper before going on the fry pan. My wife who usually does not like burgers all that much, was really impressed.  So we just now ordered 15 lbs.  Next time on the outside grill over hardwood!

We have had hamburger from Lobel’s and Allen Brothers. Yours is 2x as good.  We even bought rib-eye steaks from a good local market and ground them up into burger. Yours is better.

Texas Drought Losses Are $5.2 Billion and Counting

This just in from Beef Magazine: the record-setting drought that’s hit Texas has a galactic price tag for the state’s agricultural economy.

The record $5.2 billion in losses exceeds the previous record of $4.1 billion during the 2006 drought. The losses also represent 27.7% of the average value of agricultural production over the last four years, says David Anderson, AgriLife Extension livestock economist.

This is sad news indeed, and the complete damage isn’t even done yet. Our hearts go out to our Texan counterparts.

USDA Announces More Robust Humane Treatment Protocols

The humane treatment of beef cattle is an imperative for many reasons: that it’s the right thing to do, and that it makes for higher quality product to have healthy, happy animals,… these are just two of the no-brainers on the subject. We believe in humane treatment so much that we’re in the process of joining the fantastic Certified Humane® program.

And so we’re happy at hearing the news today that the USDA has issued more robust inspection instructions for humane livestock treatment:

 The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today issued a directive with new instructions to its inspectors that will better ensure the humane treatment and slaughter of livestock presented for processing at FSIS-inspected facilities. FSIS will train its personnel to ensure they are prepared to carry out these new instructions.

“USDA is deeply committed to ensuring the humane treatment of livestock at federally-inspected establishments,” said Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elisabeth Hagen. “We are honoring that commitment with clear guidance and better training for our inspection program personnel.”