The Beef Trend Anthony Bourdain Called 'A Clear And Present Danger'
Anthony Bourdain had a certain way with words. Amidst a fine dining culture that emphasizes formalness and solemnity to an often excessive degree, Bourdain was a breath of fresh air, never afraid to call out his peers in the restaurant industry (consider his feuds with Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri for instance). He was also a steady advocate for the consumer, deriding any food that he felt was made simply in the name of cash, and that meant throwing shade at one of the most popular culinary trends of the 21st century.
In a 2017 interview with Town & Country, Bourdain was asked about the food trends he found most annoying, and he singled out Kobe beef sliders. "The Kobe slider is a clear and present danger," he said, arguing that it represented a greater threat to the culinary world than other oft-derided dishes. "It's easy to make fun of pumpkin spice, but is it a clear and present danger? Probably not".
Bourdain's beef with Kobe sliders
Anthony Bourdain's big criticism of the Kobe beef sliders trend was that they are made to project a certain image, but fail to deliver anything of substance. Kobe is a type of wagyu beef, widely considered the highest-quality meat in the world. As such, the name Kobe beef carries tremendous weight on a menu, and this is typically reflected in sky-high price tags.
The whole reason that Kobe is so well-regarded is that its ultra-fatty nature gives it a supremely tender texture and unctuous mouthfeel, but as Bourdain was quick to point out, both of those things are lost when you grind the meat into a burger patty. "No one who orders a Kobe slider wants the unctuous, fatty experience of ordering a Kobe steak," Bourdain lamented. "What they want is bragging rights".
Bourdain considered Kobe sliders to be a harbinger of what he called "a douche economy"— a perversion of the restaurant industry in which foods are valued for their trendiness and luxury status rather than their actual qualities. "It's part of the 'bro' culture," he said, a food seemingly tailor-made for fintech entrepreneurs to project a sense of superiority. It's even more laughable when you consider the fact that the Kobe beef in most sliders isn't even authentic.
Most Kobe beef is mislabeled
Bourdain never held back when it came to bashing Kobe beef sliders. In an appearance on The Tonight Show, he said, "If you see Kobe slider on a menu at a restaurant you've just walked into, turn on your heels and leave," lest someone find themselves in a "sea of high-fiving hedge funders." There's more reason than that to take his advice though. It turns out most Kobe sliders are not even made with real Kobe beef.
Authentic Japanese Wagyu beef is difficult to find in the United States as is, but Kobe beef, which comes from just one limited region in Japan, is nigh-on impossible to get your hands on. Before 2012, no amount of Kobe beef had ever been imported to the U.S., and a decade later, Forbes reported that there were still fewer than 20 restaurants in the country selling the real thing. If you see Kobe beef on an American menu, it's most likely American Wagyu, which comes from Japanese cattle that are crossbred with American Angus cattle. So, not only does ordering Kobe sliders mean you're potentially squandering a good steak, but it also means you're paying extra for something you aren't even getting. No wonder Bourdain couldn't stand them.