Asda wagyu beef: raising the steaks?

(From Guardian Unlimited)

Well I didn't expect that. Asda, the buttock-slapper's favourite , is about to start selling wagyu beef. That's the Japanese stuff supposedly massaged by geishas, fed with beer and free to enjoy a long and Zen-like existence in some twittering prefecture.

A 170g Australian wagyu filet mignon costs GBP85 plus service at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant on Park Lane , while Asda is selling its version for around 30 quid a kilo. The new beef is reared in Wales and sired by a bull called Shogun, whose semen Asda is able to sell for about GBP7.50 a "straw", whereas the same quantity of wagyu tadpoles ordinarily cost about GBP50.

If it all …