Your menu can be an ethical minefield. We're proud at Le Manoir that we try to source all our ingredients (even caviar, which we get from French members of the French Marine and New Fish Farming Syndicate, near Bordeaux) from firms committed to sustainability. But there is one so-called "luxury food" that worries me especially.
In 1993 I was invited to Japan, where I made it my mission to learn about the famous buttery, marbled Kobe beef, which I then believed came from specially pampered Wagyu breed cows, massaged by beautiful geisha girls, one per beast, who gave them beer and sake to relax them, while the geishas' nimble fingers redistributed the fat within the muscle tissues. I even believed that a trusted adviser to the emperor chose for slaughter only the finest cows. When we arrived in Kobe, it took me five days to convince the polite hotel manager that I really did want to see the Kobé beef farm.
It was horrible. The cattle were not grazing lazily; they were kept in wooden boxes. They were dirty, their rumps covered in their own excrement. My executive head chef Gary Jones and I had arrived just in time to witness the slaughter of fifteen steers and heifers. The abattoir was in effect a large pen divided in two; the beasts were herded into half the pen, and taken singly into the other side for slaughter, where a gutter ran with their blood.
I could see fear in the eyes of the beasts in the safe half of the pen. Why would they frighten their cows? For one thing, it is well known that fear lessens the quality of the meat. It was hellish. See http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2007/12/kobe_beef_estabrook.
Later I discovered that geography explains a good deal about Kobe beef. If you go back a couple of centuries, the Japanese ate no beef, and kept cattle only as working beasts. Japan has very little unrocky, flat land suitable for grazing, so the cows are kept in confinement, have little exercise, and get fat (massaging may help the arthritis they commonly suffer). Their diet is perforce mostly grain and cereal rather than the grass that the cow's four stomachs are designed to digest; the protein-rich feed increases the fat content of their meat, helped along by the beer that they are indeed fed. The Wagyu is a crossbred animal, and is now farmed successfully (and more ethically, with much more care for its welfare) in the US, Latin America and Australia. Real "Kobe beef" comes from Wagyu cattle raised within the borders of Hyogo, which includes the city of Kobe. Until it is proved to me that it is reared ethically, I shall not be eating or offering genuine Kobe beef on any of my menus.
In 1993 I was invited to Japan, where I made it my mission to learn about the famous buttery, marbled Kobe beef, which I then believed came from specially pampered Wagyu breed cows, massaged by beautiful geisha girls, one per beast, who gave them beer and sake to relax them, while the geishas' nimble fingers redistributed the fat within the muscle tissues. I even believed that a trusted adviser to the emperor chose for slaughter only the finest cows. When we arrived in Kobe, it took me five days to convince the polite hotel manager that I really did want to see the Kobé beef farm.It was horrible. The cattle were not grazing lazily; they were kept in wooden boxes. They were dirty, their rumps covered in their own excrement. My executive head chef Gary Jones and I had arrived just in time to witness the slaughter of fifteen steers and heifers. The abattoir was in effect a large pen divided in two; the beasts were herded into half the pen, and taken singly into the other side for slaughter, where a gutter ran with their blood.
I could see fear in the eyes of the beasts in the safe half of the pen. Why would they frighten their cows? For one thing, it is well known that fear lessens the quality of the meat. It was hellish. See http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2007/12/kobe_beef_estabrook.
Later I discovered that geography explains a good deal about Kobe beef. If you go back a couple of centuries, the Japanese ate no beef, and kept cattle only as working beasts. Japan has very little unrocky, flat land suitable for grazing, so the cows are kept in confinement, have little exercise, and get fat (massaging may help the arthritis they commonly suffer). Their diet is perforce mostly grain and cereal rather than the grass that the cow's four stomachs are designed to digest; the protein-rich feed increases the fat content of their meat, helped along by the beer that they are indeed fed. The Wagyu is a crossbred animal, and is now farmed successfully (and more ethically, with much more care for its welfare) in the US, Latin America and Australia. Real "Kobe beef" comes from Wagyu cattle raised within the borders of Hyogo, which includes the city of Kobe. Until it is proved to me that it is reared ethically, I shall not be eating or offering genuine Kobe beef on any of my menus.
Have the Japanese Kobe beef producers reformed their welfare standards in the 17 years since I visited? There is not much chance of finding out, I was told by Giles Hamblin, of the Freedown Food Company, the largest British exporter of Wagyu beef. He told me that EU regulations prevent the import of Kobe beef from Japan.
Is Wagyu beef an ethical alternative? It depends largely on how long they are kept on the feedlot, and what their feedlot diet is. As the impeccable Michael Pollan has reported, though "cattle rarely live on feedlot diets for more than 150 days," the veterinaries he consulted said that if cattle were fed the typical American feedlot diet much longer than that, they'd die of liver disease" Between 15 and 30 percent of feedlot cows are found at slaughter to have abscessed livers; ... in some pens the figure runs as high as 70 percent." [The Omnivore's Dilemma, p.78.]
Mr Hamblin tells me that his own Wagyu comes from two sources in Chile and one in Australia. All his beef is reared humanely, he says. Kept with their mothers for the first year, they graze freely, until they are placed on feedlots, either completely free range, or in roomy, open-sided pens, for their last 300-500 days, when they are finished on "a diet of corn, soybean based protein, alfalfa, distiller grains and some chopped hay, which gives the beef its unique marbling, tenderness and luxurious buttery flavour."
All three of his suppliers feed their animals a mixed diet, though one says it is "mostly corn". Another says that he is conscious of the problems of feeding grain to cattle: "before the cattle enter into the feedlot we supplement them with a diet that prepares their rumen for the diet with higher energy levels, to avoid any digestive problem."
Despite what Mr Pollan's vets said (above), all three said they have no higher incidence of liver disease than what would be normal for grass-fed beasts. Indeed, one said: "we have feeding and specialised animal husbandry strategies in place to reduce the occurrences of liver disease and we also employ the services of the best nutritionist in Australia."
Mr Hamblin says his difficulty is getting consistent quality. The marbling ratio of fat to muscle is expressed on a scale where 12 is maximum and 1 minimum. A score of 12 is the beef equivalent of Italian lardo, and not much appreciated here. The problem is that you can't actually evaluate the marbling till you can see the sixth rib of the carcass.
And, of course, tastes vary. Mr Hamblin said a Japanese restaurant such as Nobu might use Wagyu beef with a score of 8-9, whereas most of his customers are happy with a value of 4. Prices range from about £40 per kilo for ribeye and strip sirloins for "factor 4" Wagyu, to £60-£70 per kilo for 6, £80-88 per kilo for 8+.
The most intriguing claim made by Mr Hamblin's website is this: "Because of the cattle's genetic predisposition to marbling and special diet Wagyu yields a beef that contains a higher percentage of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids than typical beef. The increased marbling also improves the ratio of monounsaturated fats to saturated fats." This reminds us that, in addition to the animal welfare question, there is one of human health: at least in the West, red meat consumption is certain to diminish. Finally there's the environmental problem - the destruction of rainforest to grow the soya and corn the feed cattle, whose own emissions enlarge the carbon footprint of this kind of farming. I have no doubt that all our menus are soon going to change to reflect these facts.
And considering my personal experience of Kobe beef, I am very pleased to read that Freedown Food Co says "These cattle are treated humanely and given the best possible care and feeding throughout their lives and the end product reflects that! Furthermore no growth-promoting hormones or animal by-products are used in their feeding program." I shall keep an open mind about this, but for the moment there is only grass-fed beef on our menus. With Gary and the team I will trial Freedown's beef at le Manoir, but before I put it on the menu, I shall ask Mr Hamblin if his product complies with our full specifications, including animal welfare, nutritional and our high ethical requirements. If it satisfies all these, we will consider putting it on the menu.
Is Wagyu beef an ethical alternative? It depends largely on how long they are kept on the feedlot, and what their feedlot diet is. As the impeccable Michael Pollan has reported, though "cattle rarely live on feedlot diets for more than 150 days," the veterinaries he consulted said that if cattle were fed the typical American feedlot diet much longer than that, they'd die of liver disease" Between 15 and 30 percent of feedlot cows are found at slaughter to have abscessed livers; ... in some pens the figure runs as high as 70 percent." [The Omnivore's Dilemma, p.78.]
Mr Hamblin tells me that his own Wagyu comes from two sources in Chile and one in Australia. All his beef is reared humanely, he says. Kept with their mothers for the first year, they graze freely, until they are placed on feedlots, either completely free range, or in roomy, open-sided pens, for their last 300-500 days, when they are finished on "a diet of corn, soybean based protein, alfalfa, distiller grains and some chopped hay, which gives the beef its unique marbling, tenderness and luxurious buttery flavour." All three of his suppliers feed their animals a mixed diet, though one says it is "mostly corn". Another says that he is conscious of the problems of feeding grain to cattle: "before the cattle enter into the feedlot we supplement them with a diet that prepares their rumen for the diet with higher energy levels, to avoid any digestive problem."
Despite what Mr Pollan's vets said (above), all three said they have no higher incidence of liver disease than what would be normal for grass-fed beasts. Indeed, one said: "we have feeding and specialised animal husbandry strategies in place to reduce the occurrences of liver disease and we also employ the services of the best nutritionist in Australia."
Mr Hamblin says his difficulty is getting consistent quality. The marbling ratio of fat to muscle is expressed on a scale where 12 is maximum and 1 minimum. A score of 12 is the beef equivalent of Italian lardo, and not much appreciated here. The problem is that you can't actually evaluate the marbling till you can see the sixth rib of the carcass.
And, of course, tastes vary. Mr Hamblin said a Japanese restaurant such as Nobu might use Wagyu beef with a score of 8-9, whereas most of his customers are happy with a value of 4. Prices range from about £40 per kilo for ribeye and strip sirloins for "factor 4" Wagyu, to £60-£70 per kilo for 6, £80-88 per kilo for 8+.
The most intriguing claim made by Mr Hamblin's website is this: "Because of the cattle's genetic predisposition to marbling and special diet Wagyu yields a beef that contains a higher percentage of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids than typical beef. The increased marbling also improves the ratio of monounsaturated fats to saturated fats." This reminds us that, in addition to the animal welfare question, there is one of human health: at least in the West, red meat consumption is certain to diminish. Finally there's the environmental problem - the destruction of rainforest to grow the soya and corn the feed cattle, whose own emissions enlarge the carbon footprint of this kind of farming. I have no doubt that all our menus are soon going to change to reflect these facts.
And considering my personal experience of Kobe beef, I am very pleased to read that Freedown Food Co says "These cattle are treated humanely and given the best possible care and feeding throughout their lives and the end product reflects that! Furthermore no growth-promoting hormones or animal by-products are used in their feeding program." I shall keep an open mind about this, but for the moment there is only grass-fed beef on our menus. With Gary and the team I will trial Freedown's beef at le Manoir, but before I put it on the menu, I shall ask Mr Hamblin if his product complies with our full specifications, including animal welfare, nutritional and our high ethical requirements. If it satisfies all these, we will consider putting it on the menu.
Raymond Blanc taking the lead again. Luxury ingredients= luxury prices=hardship for the animals. Keep it ethical and sustainable.
Fascinating piece. Many thanks for drawing our attention to the issues.
A follow-up piece would be interesting to follow the process of determining whether M. Blanc does put it on his menu.
Interesting article, Chef, here in Wales we have a local farmer, Ifor Humphreys, who has successfully bred from Wagyu stock, and we carried out the cutting and cooking trials recently at Coleg Powys in Newtown, with great success. Although personally I feel it will be very much a 'niche' product, it makes an interesting addition to the menu, and is of very high quality indeed.
What a load of bullocks. If those fish were looking at u with a pair of soft eyes I wonder how u would feel of cutting them open and eating their babies. All animals are ritually slaughteredr. Funny u call unethically fed animals 'cattle' and your so called ethically fed animals ' beasts ' pardon me for saying but u are talking a lot of bull s*****.
M
That blog reminds me of one that has similar ideas. Just way more comprehensive! thanks alot!