Waygu, the plant-based Wagyu beef alternative that fooled master chef Hidekazu Tojo
- The inventor of the California Roll had never cared for vegetarian ‘beef’ products before, but is now eating his words – and the waygu
- The textured soy protein alternative to the famous beef is the product of a Canadian-Japanese collaboration
He had seen previous efforts to create vegetarian beef products and had not been impressed by the texture or the composition, but mostly he had not much cared for the taste when it was cooked.
“I was unsure about the quality,” he says. “But when I tried it, I could not believe it was made from plants. My first impression was that it was real wagyu beef. I was immediately very impressed.”
“Waygu”, the highly appropriate brand name given this faux beef, is a Canadian-Japanese collaboration, with the manufacturing taking place in Japan. The first samples have already been shipped to restaurants and food producers in Japan and around the world, with full-scale production expected to commence in August, says Blair Bullus, president of Vancouver-headquartered Top Tier Foodsand the brains behind vegan beef.
