Lab grown meat: the future of haute cuisine?

As Veguary descends upon Toronto (for the uninitiated, it’s kind of like Movember, but for aspiring vegetarians), we find this news from Reuters: scientists in South Carolina are trying to figure out how to grow meat from scratch. Picture a steak that’s grown in a lab with the latest bioengineering technology. Sounds gross, but it could come in handy when the world runs out of food in 2050.

Currently, the scientists are using embryonic cells from turkeys to grow animal muscle tissue, but they believe they’ll eventually be able to do it without genes. Not only that, but the grown meat will be customizable according to flavour, fat content and texture. The possibilities are daunting. Test tube Wagyu beef? Petri dish rack of lamb? Organic would become totally passé.

As for the gross-out factor, scientist Nicholas Genovese makes a pretty good point: “There are a lot of products that we eat today that are considered natural that are produced in a similar manner," he told Reuters. “There’s yogurt, which is cultured yeast. You have wine production and beer production. These were not produced in laboratories. Society has accepted these products.”

You had us at "cultured yeast." We’ve already got our bibs out.

[Reuters]

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