Edible Ottawa

Some of Ontario's Finest Wagyu

• Photo by Suzy Lamont

• D.J. Cook, top, raises more than 400 head of Wagyu cattle on multiple farms just outside of Kingston. A neurosurgeon by day, Cook works with a team of vets to test for genes that produce optimum marbling.

• They choose cattle with the precise gene profile to breed the next generation, thus improving the stock in each subsequent cycle. “We are making unbelievable Wagyu cattle,” says Cook, of the several hundred embryos and semen stored on liquid nitrogen in the barn.