News & Events | American Burgers and Barbecue Celebrated at Competitions in Japan

American-made burgers, U.S. pork spare ribs and beef brisket were featured at two qualifying contests in Japan for the upcoming World Food Championships

With the World Food Championships (WFC) set to take place in Indianapolis in October, the U.S. red meat industry stepped up to support two qualifying events in Japan for burgers and barbecue. Billed as the “world’s largest food sport competition,” the WFC will be held Oct. 16–19 at the Indiana Farm Bureau pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds & Event Center.

Japan Burger Championship ‒ As a qualifying contest for the WFC, the Japan Burger Championship has become a go-to competition for famous hamburger restaurants throughout Japan. The event is also popular with consumers, with more than 70,000 attending the three-day event in Yokohama in June.

Under a theme of “Taste of America,” teams competed with original hamburger recipes using U.S. beef (chuck eye roll and brisket) and U.S. cheese. The winning team will join the Japanese team that earned a seed at the 2024 WFC to represent Japan in the burger category at the 2025 championships. During this year’s event in Yokohama, 30 hamburger shops set up food trucks to sell hamburgers to 70,000 attendees.

More than 70,000 turned out for Japan’s Burger Championship in Yokohama, where contestants competed to represent Japan at the World Food Championships in Indianapolis.

USMEF sponsored Japan’s first-ever BBQ competition as a qualifier for the World Food Championships. USMEF Japan Director Satoshi Kato served as an event judge.

Japan BBQ Championship ‒ Following the popularity of the burger championship, Japan also hosted its first-ever qualifier for the WFC’s barbecue category. Held in Chiba Prefecture, teams competed by grilling U.S. pork spare ribs and chicken. Since it was a one-day event, organizers did not include beef brisket (which is one of the products in the BBQ category at the WFC). So USMEF cooked and sampled U.S. beef brisket for attendees at its booth.

USMEF has been promoting U.S. beef brisket to the foodservice sector in Japan since last summer, meeting individually with importers and providing samples to their end-user customers. USMEF continues to support this initiative by conducting seminars and demonstrating various barbecuing techniques that can be used in foodservice.

Funding support for the two events was provided by Nebraska Corn Board, the National Pork Board and the Beef Checkoff Program.