Holed up at his luxurious Hawaiian hideaway, Meta billionaire Mark Zuckerberg set the internet ablaze on Tuesday by posting images from his latest passion project: beer-drinking, macadamia-nut-eating cows.
“Started raising cattle at Ko’olau Ranch on Kauai, and my goal is to create some of the highest quality beef in the world,” Zuck wrote, as he beamed behind a richly marbled steak.
The cattle, he noted, are a mix of wagyu and angus and will be raised on beer and nuts he grows on his ranch. The project marks a step up in the billionaire’s new macho persona; last summer, he agreed to fight Elon Musk in a mixed martial arts cage match, though Musk seemingly got cold feet. Years ago, Zuckerberg vowed to only eat animals he had killed himself.
Each Hawaiian cow consumes “5,000-10,000 pounds of food each year, so that’s a lot of acres of macadamia trees,” Zuckerberg noted in the Instagram post. “My daughters help plant the mac trees and take care of our different animals. We’re still early in the journey and it’s fun improving on it every season. Of all my projects, this is the most delicious.”
No surprise, the comments ignited a blend of support and derision. Nusret Gökçe, the popular Turkish meat influencer known as Salt Bae, replied that he “can’t wait to see” the outcome of Zuckerberg’s work.
On X, which Musk acquired last year, the tone was largely more critical. Users blasted the billionaire for the cows’ lavish diet and for demonstrating “why animal agriculture contributes to deforestation and world hunger.”
Even Jason Calacanis, the angel investor and tech-billionaire cheerleader, piled on. “I thought this was from @TheBabylonBee,” he wrote, referring to the conservative satire site.
Ranching comprises just a small fraction of Zuckerberg’s Hawaiian endeavors. In December, news broke that the mammoth, $100 million estate he’s building on Kauai will likely feature a “huge underground bunker.”
The project is shrouded in secrecy, Wired reported. “One local architect unaffiliated with the Zuckerberg project jokes that it reminds him of medieval rulers who, according to legend, killed the architects of their most ambitious projects so the secrets of their designs would die with them.”