Farm-to-Table Matsusaka Beef Sukiyaki at a Farmer’s Inn

A once-in-a-lifetime experience, stay overnight at a farmer’s inn in Taikicho and prepare dinner with the family. Harvest vegetables and mushrooms, cook rice with local spring water, and indulge in a sukiyaki hot pot made with luxurious Matsusaka wagyu. After the pick-up and check-in, the experience will begin with collecting water for the hot pot and rice at a local spring. This spring water is known as “miracle water” by the locals, who say that drinking it is their secret to long life. Then, guests will visit a nearby vegetable patch and shiitake mushroom shed to harvest produce for the sukiyaki. After returning to the inn, the sukiyaki preparations will commence. Guests will not just witness the cooking process, but also lend a hand, making the rice the old-fashioned way, starting by splitting wood for a fire. The family uses a wood-fueled “kamado” stove to cook their rice, a tradition that used to be the norm in Japan but has since been replaced by electric rice cookers. The effort pays off, as steaming the rice using this method is said to bring out even more delicious flavors from the rice. As the rice cooks, the family will prepare the vegetables for the hot pot, and the table will soon be covered with a variety of delicious ingredients, awaiting the hot pot. Lastly, the main ingredient will be unveiled: the rare and highly-coveted Matsusaka beef. Only 2500 Matsusaka cattle are available for consumption each year, and very few people are able to taste this top-quality beef, which features ribbons of fat marbled through the meat, so tender it falls apart in the mouth, and a deep flavor. Matsusaka beef, native to Mie Prefecture, is among Japan’s 3 most famous brands of wagyu, the best that money can buy. This farm-to-table dining experience uses not only local ingredients but also traditional methods. Experience the beauty of slow food, preparing a meal using traditional methods and ingredients that you hand-picked in the locality.