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The Producers series highlights the incredible work done by those responsible for the food and drink that ends up on our tables, whether it's at home or in the world's finest restaurants. While chefs get most of the accolades, it is often the producers who remain unsung heroes of our food system. Here we shine a spotlight upon them and their produce.
Havelock North, New Zealand. Jason Ross saw a hole. The meat industry veteran knew a shift was happening around the world and he felt that there was a massive opportunity. That hole, as he saw it, was an idea that beef could achieve a high level of marbling (read: fat that makes the meat taste good), be grown in a humane, non-GMO, non-antibiotic way, and be completely grass fed, which would lead to a better product that was also healthier and potentially better for the environment.
First Light CEO Jason Ross
If that all sounds too good to be true, it’s because it almost was. But Ross had a secret. He knew if he was able to combine the genetics of a Japanese cow with the endless grass fields of New Zealand, that he could possibly achieve what might just be considered the nirvana of steak.
“We wanted to create a product that solved a problem. And the problem that we identified was Americans were transitioning back to grass-fed. [But] we knew [grass-fed] was inconsistent. We also knew that Americans had become accustomed to super-consistent, tender, mild-flavoured beef. Read: flavourless. So, we said, well, what about if we were to create a grass-fed product that when they came back, it had the tenderness and the succulence of grain-fed with a flavour. So, we looked at all manner of different ways of doing that. And we determined that marbling was the great leveller for consistency. We landed on wagyu for the genetics because they're genetically predisposed to marbling,” said Ross.
As a diner, you’ve probably noticed the word wagyu slowly and surely creeping its way onto menus around the globe. But all wagyu means is that it’s a breed of cattle from Japan. It just so happens that this particular breed reveals its fat content in a unique way. The cow itself won’t look fat, because the fat is intramuscular, meaning it’s growing inside the muscle, and is better for you when you consume it. And the marbling on a raw piece of meat looks like a river delta with strands of white tributaries running through it.
“We just talked to a lot of people in the early 2000s, and they said there’s this whole saturated fat and over-excess of omega six, which is what you get from corn-based products. North Americans have been told by their doctors to stop eating as much but they're not going to stop eating beef. [Instead] they're gonna start eating grass-fed beef. And we said, well, I mean, they're not going to enjoy it. They might eat it as an eight-ounce health supplement. But they're not gonna have a great steak dinner from grass-fed unless we can give them something that is what they’re used to.”
If you’ve ever had really high-quality wagyu beef, you’ll notice how when it cooks, the fat oozes into the rest of the cut, creating this succulent, soft, flavour-bursting bite that represents the best that beef can be. But Ross’s big challenge was to figure out how to achieve that level on grass, and to figure it out, he and his partners had to start eating, and maybe catch a break – which came in the form of a Japanese herd of cattle that just so happened to be in their backyard.
“We ate a lot of beef in a lot of different ways. And we determined that it was marbling. The flavour of beef is in the protein in the meat and it’s the fat that carries the flavour. And it also makes it juicy and soft. And then by coincidence, a Japanese family had brought a wagyu beef business to New Zealand from Miyazaki prefecture. And they were flying 10-month-old calves in 747’s back to Japan to be finished. You need quite a lot of space for the breeding herd, because space was at a premium in Japan… their business probably wasn't profitable five years before they waived the white flag, but they persevered, and we did a deal with them for their wagyu herd. We then asked them for their help to raise them on grass and they said it can't be done. Impossible. It’s not the Japanese way.”
But Ross seems to be a fan of the impossible. What he understood was that wagyu were cart oxen. They were meant to graze and move and eat grass. But in Japan, there wasn’t enough land for free-range grazing, so the animals were fed rice straw or grain. That meant the animals got fat because of a lack of exertion, while being given an unnatural diet that often had to be supplemented with quick fixes.
“Cattle are biologically designed to process grass in their four stomachs. And they are biologically designed to have diversity in their grasses that they eat. And they are also pastoral animals. So, they move, you know, motion is a big part of it. So, if you take an animal that is biologically designed to do all those things, and you stand them still in a feedlot, and you feed them one product, that is not what they're designed to eat, they will get immensely fat very quickly. Unfortunately, that's not good for their four stomachs. And it's also not good, because if one of them gets sick, they all get sick. So, they get filled with antibiotics. So, you end up with this animal that is doing what it's not biologically designed to do. And economically, it's a great thing, because you can grow them really fat really fast. Whereas in the grass-fed system, it's really hard to put fat into an animal that is moving around. And is only getting as much energy as it can get from eating grass because the grass is relatively low energy as a feed.”
“So, you make sure that the quality of the grass that they're getting every single day of their life is amazing. You've just got to be really well planned. And you also have multi-species grasses, so you have kale, chicory, sunflowers, turnips, rye, clover, lots of different high-energy feeds. You just make sure that you've got that in your pasture, and you make sure that the animals always got good grass.”
Ross’s other secret is that he’s a Kiwi, and he knew that New Zealand had the perfect climate for giving these cows the best possible chance to achieve the marbling he was looking for.
“New Zealand is the mecca for growing anything on pasture. It's got the perfect climate, and people that are really, really good at it because they've got no choice because there's not really a great deal of space for growing crops. And the climate doesn't really lend itself to arable farming. It doesn't because it rains a lot and most of the topography in New Zealand is rolling. It’s hard to get a combine harvester over a hill. It’s not like the Midwest where it's this beautiful big flat land.”
Now he and his partners had to convince the farmers. Like most great things, wagyu takes time. Ross and his partners started their company First Light (named from the fact that New Zealand is the first country to see the sun each day), in order to create a type of co-op where farmers and producers could share in the profits. But he still had to convince the farmers that they had to wait for the cows to be just right before they could take them to market.
“The farmers are not rushing to grow grass-fed wagyu beef. Farmers are quite traditional by nature. And if their dad grew Angus, then they grow wagyu, it’s like they just bought a pair of hip underpants. And, also, the cows are quite lean-looking animals because all the fat is inside. And farmers like big fat animals. A farmer grows animals until they stop growing and then you slaughter them. Whereas with wagyu when they stop growing by weight, they start putting on fat, and they continue growing by value. But a farmer will say, ‘this thing's not growing anymore.’ But you have to explain that he might not be growing any more kilos, but he's now putting down fat. He can't see that on the scales, he can't see the value. But biologically that’s what’s happening. When the cow is full, [we tell them] give it three more months. And they don’t like that. But they’re just not used to it.”
As for the environmental impact, Ross and First Light look at beef production a little differently. While they readily admit that growing cattle is by no means the most environmentally friendly business (think about methane), they’ve committed to a couple different principles. First, they won’t go above a certain herd size because they’re more interested in quality of steak over quantity. And second, they take a more traditionally indigenous view of cattle where they’re utilising every part of the cow and creating ancillary businesses for their farmers to share.
“The way we think about it, is we've taken a long-term view on cattle production, grain or grass fed.There is a human population growth curve, and there's a sinking lid on animal production. We've accepted that. And we've determined that we are going to stop growing more animals. We are going to put all our energy into growing more valuable animals. And we're not going to do that by piling all of the cost into the meat. We're going to do that by being much, much smarter with using every piece for its best possible purpose.”
They now produce leather, and sell it to a New York fashion house, while using unsuitable hides to make collagen. They make pet food and micronutrients. It all means they can make a better financial return on their animals, meaning they can process fewer animals, which is better for the environment.
The First Light crew has also teamed up with Mark Schatzker, the author of Steak: One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef, and Jerry Greenberg, co-founder of the Sushi Nozawa group which owns and operates the sushi-fanatic lover’s SUGARFISH and KazuNori, the pasta dream spot UOVO, the 100% grass-fed Wagyu HiHo Cheeseburger, and the Beverly Hills wagyu steak restaurant Matū. Schatzker, Greenberg, and First Light have created a one-of-a-kind steak club that can all but guarantee to help you cook an ideally seasoned steak with every delivery.
Jason and James Greer on the farm
So, is this the perfect steak? Does it compare with the highest rated A-5 wagyu steaks from Japan? For Ross’s part, he doesn’t care about the comparison because that’s not what he’s doing.
“We have no interest. We think what the Japanese do is a different thing. And good for them. Our next Everest is understanding the nutritional value of these multi-grass pastures and understanding the micronutrients that are in that grass and its impact on two things – the flavour profile of the beef and the micronutrient makeup of the beef. For us it's about an incredibly tasty, delicious meat that is full of micronutrients that are good for you. So that's what we have, we're not obsessed with fat for fat’s sake we're obsessed with how can we create something that is the intersection of deliciousness and health and well-being. We want to create something where your body will say that was just a nutrient explosion.”
First Light meat selection
Can a steak be good for you, good for the environment, humane, and taste incredible? This producer’s mission is out to prove that it’s possible, and if you’ve tried the meat, seen the New Zealand pastures, and met the team behind it all, you might also believe that the nirvana of steak has finally arrived.
