Our Story
America's first-ever direct sourcer-seller of A5 Wagyu from Japan.
Here's the story of how we did it.
Back to: Japanese Wagyu
Japanese Farm Homestay
It all started with our co-founder, Joe Heitzeberg, a student at the time, staying in a remote Japanese town on a farm. Amid harvesting diakon, negi, and jagaimo, he delved into Japanese culture and a life long linguistic adventure that sparked a deep connection. During that stay and celebrating his 20th birthday on the farm, Joe realized how special Japanese Wagyu was when neighbors came together to celebrate and roast an entire Wagyu cow, it was his first-ever taste of Japanese beef; and it would have to last him two more decades, until the next taste.
Crowd Cow
We had started Crowd Cow to make it easier to get meat and seafood from independent farms and fisheries; but we quickly stumbled upon an equally wonderful, if unexpected, reason to continue doing what we were doing: Like wine, coffee, chocolate, and microbrew, beef is an incredibly diverse world that deserves to be fully explored and celebrated.
Bringing Wagyu to U.S
When we started cold-calling Japanese producers and local government offices, we found that our focus on celebrating a long-underappreciated diversity in meat and seafood began opening up doors immediately. It was clear to those on the other end of the line that Crowd Cow was a new kind of company - one better-suited to explaining Japanese A5 Wagyu to an American audience than others who had come along before. We would make it a priority to highlight the unique differences between producers and types of beef.
The Farms
Throughout this time, we met with the innovative farmer behind "Olive Wagyu," who operates a unique and sustainable system and uses pressed olives to feed the cows. What results is a beef that's high in antioxidants and carries a soft, olive-y sweet aftertaste.
We also met with producers in Kagoshima, current winner of Wagyu Olympics, and Miyazaki - areas renowned inside Japan for producing the best Kuroge Washu cattle. From these wonderful farmers, we're bringing you A5 Wagyu to Crowd Cow.
For us, it's been a wildly exciting journey to dive into the world of A5 Wagyu.
Now all that's left is the best part: Dinner.
Japanese Wagyu > Our Story
