Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. South Africa Serving Up the Beef at World Cup South Africa restaurateurs and meat suppliers to sell tons of beef during upcoming football World Cup Darren Taylor | Johannesburg, South Africa 26 April 2010 Photo: D. Taylor Prime South African beef on a grill in a South African restaurant. World Cup visitors must prepare to eat plenty of red meat...... Leading South African restaurateur Steve Maresch enters a large cold room, and gestures towards slabs of meat hanging from hooks. âItâll be sirloin, rump down there, rib eye on top there; then T-bone,â he explains, âThis is what weâre looking forward to serving to our visitors â prime South African beef.â The beef expert is a member of South Africaâs national guild of restaurateurs â and just one of many South Africans preparing to feed about 450,000 international football fans during Africaâs first World Cup. Unprecedented beef sales are expected in South Africa during the month-long football festival, given that supporters from six of the top 10 beef-eating nations on earth will descend on the country. According to the latest statistics from the United States Food and Agriculture Department, Argentina is the worldâs top per capita consumer of beef. On average, each Argentine eats a staggering 65.2 Kg (1 KG = 2.2 lbs) of beef every year. Australians are next, eating almost 50 Kg per person per year, while each American on average eats more than 40 Kg of beef annually. Uruguay, Brazil and France â countries that have also qualified for the 2010 World Cup â are also among the top 10 beef-eating nations. South Africans eat a mere 16 Kg of the meat a year â still enough to place their homeland among the top 20 beef-consuming countries. South Africa also enjoys a reputation of producing some of the most flavorful beef in the world.   Incredible beef Mareschâs love affair with beef began about eight years ago, when he visited a cattle ranch in South Africaâs northern Gauteng province.  âAt Chalmar farm we discovered the most incredible beef weâd ever tasted and literally two weeks later, weâd opened the first of a few local grills,â he tells VOA. D. Taylor Zimbabwean steak griller Peter Mahiangu is looking forward to preparing food for tourists during South Africa's World Cup The grain-fed beef he now serves in his restaurants â often rated by leading food critics as the best steakhouses in South Africa â comes from steers at Chalmar ranch. There, animals are fed only the finest natural grains. âWe also have the finest of free-range beef, or grass-fed beef, which comes from a farm in Kwazulu-Natal (province). And thatâs very lush, green pastures (that the cattle graze),â Maresch says.  Greenfields ranch supplies free-range meat from cattle left to roam the misty hills and mountains, free to feed as they wish on mineral-rich grasses. Our cattle are what they eat Cattle in South Africa arenât confined to one particular area, but are found all over the country. âOur cattle are what they eat,â says Maresch. âOften itâs been said that South Africa is a world in one country â from lush, grassy pastures to quite arid regions, to mountainous areas, to savanna. Itâs the best of all worlds in one here â which means the beef that we can produce is of the finest.â Down the years, South African beef producers have discovered which particular breeds of cattle are best suited to specific regions containing specific grazing. D. Taylor Great South African beef comes from indigenous cattle such as the Nguni breed South African beef has an âedgeâ over that produced in many other parts of the world, says Maresch, because of the countryâs âwonderful farmers,â who focus on quality rather than quantity. âI think the farms have huge attention to detail, in all aspects, and we certainly have had the privilege of going out to the farms and walking the pastures, being out in the feedlots and understanding (the farmersâ) total commitment (to producing quality beef).â Humane treatment influences meatâs taste South African farmers crossbreed traditional indigenous cattle such as Nguni, Afrikaner, Drakensberger and Bonsmara. âTheyâre trying to find and interbreed (animals) to produce better yield, better flavor, and a more consistent beef,â Maresch says. The countryâs beef is of the healthiest in the world, according to South African nutritionist Hettie Schonfeld. âThe beef consumed most often in South Africa contains only 13% fat - of the leanest when compared to global beef producers and thus making it perfectly acceptable to consume as part of a healthy balanced diet,â she says.  Maresch says many South African farmers also treat their herds as humanely as possible. âIf cattle are stressed, no matter how good a breed it is, the meat isnât going to taste as good because the animals produce all kinds of (flavor-killing acids) when theyâre stressed.â He adds that âqualityâ South African beef producers donât inject their cattle with artificial growth hormones and steroids. The aging process The aging process affects how tender and juicy tasty a steak is. âFrom my  experience, the aging process is one that any good steak has to go through, and aging is allowing the amino acids to be active (to) break down the muscle fibers,â says Maresch. D. Taylor Maresch attributes the high quality of South African beef to the expertise of the country's cattle farmers The meat is aged by hanging it in cold rooms, with temperatures between three and five degrees Celsius. Humidity is controlled by means of special filters.  âThis allows our beef to be aged for up to 90 days, when vacuum packed. When the beef is in a vacuum pack, thatâs called wet aging,â Maresch explains. âThe cut lies in its natural juices and is allowed to mature.â But thereâs also dry aging â the meat arrives from the farm, and sellers keep it in a vacuum pack for up to two weeks.  âThen we take it out of the vacuum bag and hang it up on a hook in the cold room, allowing the natural elements to oxidize and age that piece of beef; itâs a faster process. (The steak) is dry on the outside and quite pleasant to eat,â he says. Rubs and grilling South Africans generally enjoy their meat barbecued. At Mareschâs restaurants, chefs rub the steaks with a blend of spices, including oregano, paprika, coriander, mustard seeds, salt and thyme. âWe then press our steaks into the rub mix. Itâs then placed on the grill and brushed with salted butter while itâs grilling,â the restaurateur explains. Most South Africans prefer their steaks medium rare, according to Maresch. But one of his grillers, Peter Mahlangu, says plenty also like their meat rare or even âvery rare.â Maresch jokes that customers who order steaks well done are âallowed to leave out the back door.â     He continues, âItâs going to be interesting to find out what other famous meat eaters, like the South and North Americans and the French and the Australians think of our beef.â The beef Maresch sells is the best heâs ever tasted, he says â and heâs eaten steaks all over the world, including in perhaps the most famous of cattle areas, Texas, in the United States.  âThatâs not an arrogant sales pitch. I invite anyone â especially people who are going to be visiting us for the World Cup â to taste South African meat. Iâm sure theyâll be amazed.â  He says it may well be that another international tournament will happen in South Africa at the same time as the football jamboree â the âBeef World Cup!â  .