That's Mark Schatzker, author of Steak: One Man's Search for the World's Tastiest Piece of Beef, describing our new 100% grass-fed wagyu from First Light Farms in New Zealand - what he considers to be the best beef in the world.

And no, that is not a typo or a mistake. This is 100% grass-fed wagyu beef, from some of the first farmers to even try raising wagyu cattle exclusively on grass in 2006 - and who've been perfecting it since then.

Why is that special? 

Wagyu cattle are the famous Japanese breed known for their genetic predisposition to higher levels of flavorful intramuscular fat, known to beef lovers everywhere as "marbling."

In Japan, farmers fatten their wagyu with barley, rice straw, and other grains to achieve that high marbling - elsewhere in the world (usually in a feedlot) the cows get corn and soy feeds for the same purpose.

A combination of wagyu genetics and lots of carbohydrates (in the form of grains) does produce steaks with consistently high marbling - we've all seen a Japanese A5-grade wagyu. It's a very rich eating experience - perhaps too rich, like biting into a stick of butter. And what about flavor? It's usually mild.

Your 'typical' Japanese A5 wagyu: Heavy on richness, light on flavor.

Image Credit: Pinterest

Enter First Light Farms™️ 

First Light Farms knew that flavor comes from the animal's diet - and you can't beat lifelong grazing on lush grassland and healthy New Zealand soils for developing wagyu's signature sweet, nutty, deep flavor.

It takes more skill on the part of their farmers, but that famous wagyu marbling is still there too - but now it accentuates the beefy flavor, rather than overpower it. Chefs and steak lovers describe First Light Farms' grass-fed wagyu as having an incredibly robust and "clean" flavor.

A couple of First Light 100% grass-fed wagyu ribeyes with a marbling score around 7-8.
Look at that beautiful deep yellow (grass-fed) fat! 

Better for you, better for the planet 🌎

Last and certainly not least - if you've been with us here at Paleo Robbie for a while, you'll know we sell exclusively grass-fed and finished beef because it's also much better for our planet and for your body than its grain-fed cousins.

First Light Farms is no exception - in fact, their beef is one of the world's best examples of a premium product that is also supremely healthy for you and regenerative to the soil the animals graze!

Pictured here: Some First Light Farms' wagyu cattle & 100% of their diet.

One look at the deep yellow fat on a First Light steak tells you all you need to know - that deep yellow color comes from the beta carotene in the grass the animal ate (compared to the white or off-white fat you'll see in conventional wagyu).

You simply will not see that deep yellow fat on virtually *any* other wagyu beef in the world. 

For the same reason, you also won't find any other wagyu beef with a nutritional profile as strong as First Light, which tested an incredible 1:1.3 omega 3 to 6 fatty acid ratio. (Compare that to 1:9 or as high as 1:25 in typical grain-fed beef.)

The final word

First Light Farms' 100% grass-fed wagyu is in very limited supply, with most of their product going straight to the American market and much of the remainder being sold locally in New Zealand.

As soon as we learned about their "quality over quantity" ethos - and the great backstory of the company's development - we reached out to their team to bring the product to Thailand.

It took a year and a half to make that happen, but after some taste testing we can confidently say...worth the wait. 

We think you'll agree.

Ribeye MB4-5, striploin MB4-5, tenderloin MB6+, available now.