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goobster  ·  3057 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Everything we love to eat is a scam

    If someone wants to have the experience of real kobe beef and is willing to pay the money for it, they deserve that real kobe beef, sophisticated palette or no.

This is your central presumption, but I believe it is wrong.

It is a uniquely American way to view the world: I should be able to do/get anything I can pay for.

No, in fact, you shouldn't. There should be things that money can't buy. The simple possession of money should not be the sole arbiter of taste and judgement.

Case in point: I have a client in Australia who runs an organic sheep and beef farm, based off the Polyface Farms model. It is hugely successful. The finest restaurants in Sydney buy from them because their meat is simply the best.

They do not ship.

They do not sell retail.

They sell only fresh product, locally, to people who know quality when they taste it. Period.

Raising Kobe beef can be seen as an art. Very few people do it, and those who do are very good at it. It is as hand crafted as a piece of meat can be. It is the finest there is, by several measures. Therefore it is rare, and should only be available to those who can actually appreciate the artistry of it. Otherwise, it has been wasted. The animal has been wasted. The farmer that applied all his skills and care to make the finest meat; his skills have been wasted. Things like Kobe beef are crafted for the most educated palette, and to sell it to someone else is to completely dishonor the artist who created it, their skills, and their passions.