Y
ou’vegottohandit toWinston
Churchill.Notonlydidhe(almost)
single-handedlywinWorldWarII,he
alsopredictedtheinventionoflab-grown
meat.Anunsungfuturist,hewrotein 1931 thatthe
worldwoulddevelopthetechnologytodivorcethe
productionofmeatfromtheslaughterofanimals.
“Weshallescapetheabsurdityofgrowinga
wholechickeninordertoeatthebreastorwing
bygrowingthesepartsseparately,”heopinedin
hisessay“FiftyYearsHence”,pre-datingeventhe
inventionofSpambya goodsixyears.“The
newfoodswillfromtheoutsetbepractically
indistinguishablefromthenaturalproducts.”
Theworldis runningalmostfour decades
pastChurchill’sdeadline,and
theartificialproductionof
anexcellentrib-eyeorevena
convincingchickenwingis still
justa gleamina scientist’seye.
Butwiththefirstcommercial
productsanticipatedtoreach
themarketlaterthisyear,the
eraoflab-grownmeatis nigh.
Thefirstlab-grownburger
pattywaspresentedtothe
worldin2013.Therate
offirstsbeingclaimedhas
acceleratedtothepointthatthewholemovement
feelslikea majorscientificbreakthroughcrossed
withthefervourofa 19th-centurygoldrush.
Inlate2017,Just,a SanFrancisco-based
company,releaseda videoofa groupofpeople
eatingchickennuggetsasIan,thechickenwhose
featheryieldedthestemcells,struttedabout
unconcernedly.InSeptemberlastyear,Silicon
Valleystart-upNewAgeMeatsinviteda group
ofjournaliststotastetheworld’sfirstcultured
porksausagecontainingbothfatandmuscle
cells,whichwashailedasa breakthroughin
recreatingthetasteofrealmeat.InDecember,
IsraelicompanyAlephFarmsdébutedthefirst
lab-grownsteak(don’tgettooexcited:whilethe
texturewasreportedlysimilartoconventional
meat, the taste needed some improving).Cellularmeatis theultimate
productforanageofdisruption.
TheUberofthefoodworld,it
promisestovastlyreducethe
greenhouse-gasemissionsassociated
withmeatproduction,haltorreverse
thedeforestationofgrazingland,
andeliminatetheneedforantibioticsinmeat
production.Theupshotis thattheworld’s
populationwillhavea reliableproteinsource
that’sfarlessreliantonfeed,landandwater- anddoesn’tinvolvethekillingofanimals.
“Thisis a bigpartofthefutureoffood,”says
ThomasKing,CEOofFoodFrontier,anAustralian
not-for-profitpushinginnovationincell-basedand
plant-basedmeatacrosstheAsia-Pacificregion.“We
nowhavetheabilitytogrowandharvestcellsrather
thanwholeanimals.It’stheultimateanswertothe
currentunsustainablemethodsofmeatproduction.”
Inthewayofallrevolutions,thelanguageis still
sorting itself out. Culturedmeat,artificialmeatand
in-vitromeatallhavecurrency.
Thedominanttermis “cell-
based”,a referencetothestem-
celltechnologythatseescells
takenfroma smallbiopsyof
a liveanimalandfedonplant
materialina lab.Thepopular
alternativeterm“cleanmeat”
hasreceivedpushbackfrom
traditionalagriculture,although
labproponentspointout
thattheirproductis freefrom
illnessessuchas salmonellathat
cancontaminatemeatontheslaughterhousefloor.
BillGateshasinvestedheavilyinlab-grown
meat.SohasRichardBranson.Tellingly,traditional
agriculturalcompaniesincludingCargillandTyson
Foodsarealsosinkingtheirmoneyintothearea.
Meat&LivestockAustralia,whichrepresents
around50,000livestockproducers,is circumspect
aboutthisbravenewworld.MLAhasbeen
monitoringconsumerreactionstounderstand
whethertheproductpromisestobeanaddition
to, or a substitute for, conventionally farmed meat.
In2017,a videoemerged
ofa groupofpeople
eatingchickennuggets
asIan,thechicken
whosefeather yielded
thestem cells,strutted
about unconcernedly.Lab-grownmeatisfastleavingtherealmofsciencefiction
andbecomingreality,writesLARISSADUBECKI. But
as the technology evolves, will our tastes keep up?
Imitation Game
68 GOURMET TRAVELLER
PHOTOGRAPHY GETTY IMAGES.