got beef?

Toward the southern end of Japan, tucked into the Tottori prefecture, a breed of black cattle has become famous worldwide for its fatty, delicious meat. Although “wagyu” directly translated just means “Japanese cow,” the intensely marbled — and quite expensive — steak in the culinary world’s popular imagination comes, in part, from the cattle grazing in this area of the country. And when Japanese black cattle were brought to the United States to crossbreed with Stateside angus stock create America Wagyu Kobe style beef, they came from the Tottori prefecture. This is the good stuff.

So in what could be seen as a special ode to this region’s delicious beef, or just an over-the-top exercise in gluttony, the Japanese food delivery company Gochikuru has created a cow-shaped bento box filled with about 4kg of Tottori wagyu. A serving of this bento box will set you back, oh just about JP¥292,292 (RM10,335). Why the odd figure? In Japanese, the numbers 2 and 9 can be pronounced ‘ni’ and ‘kyu’, almost like the Japanese word for meat ‘niku.’

As if playing a delicious game of Operation, buyers can gather around the box to pluck cuts of beef from the corresponding section of the cow’s body. Prime rib, sirloin, brisket, tongue, and more are perched atop sticky rice sourced from the same prefecture and served alongside raw wasabi, lime, and yakiniku sauce, which is made from Asian pear. Released to celebrate Japan’s Meat Day, this is a far cry from the typical Japanese housewife-made simple bento. But it sure beats an UberEats.