Here’s how the world’s first synthetic meat tastes

[brooklynite]

Salon

“There is quite some flavor … quite some intense taste,” said food scientist Hanni Rützler, looking perhaps a tiny bit queasy as she tasted the lab grown meat that premiered publicly for the first time this morning in London. “It is close to meat.”

Added Josh Schonwald, author of “The Taste of Tomorrow: Dispatches from the Future of Food” and the meat’s second official taster, “the texture has a feel like meat.” He ranked it as existing somewhere between a meat-imitating Boca Burger and a McDonald’s burger.

Both agreed that the patty, prepared by chef Richard McGeown, wasn’t quite what you’d get from a slaughtered cow, calling out the absence of fat as being particularly noticeable. We’re still a long way, too, from being able to produce synthetic meat quickly and affordably. This morning’s meal took three months to produce, which, as someone pointed out, is still “faster than a cow.”

Dr. Mark Post, the scientist behind the meat, said he’s confident enough in its safety that he’d be comfortable letting his children eat it. Members of the audience expressed disappointment that they weren’t allowed to partake.

Enough ketchup, pickles, tomato, onion and lettuce....who's gonna know?

[KamaAina]

1. Like chicken?

[Jenoch]

2. It looks just like 'pink slime'.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. "it is close to meat"...

so it probably tastes like meat *would* taste if cattle were fed intravenously on refined nutrients rather than corn (as in the USA) or grass and forage (as outside the USA). An animal's diet affects the flavour of the meat (this is part of why wild game tastes, well, gamy).

[xchrom]

4. blech. nt

[Scurrilous]

5. “It is close to meat.”

Isn't that McDonald's slogan?

[Fumesucker]

6. Well played

[AgingAmerican]

7. Japanese scientist creates meat substitute from sewage

Apparently Soilent Green wont be made from people after all!!

[reusrename]

10. I really didn't have to watch that.

Turd burgers isn't just a saying anymore.

Oh my!

[NuclearDem]

15. I always thought burgers tasted like shit...

[Silent3]

8. It'll be interesting to watch the interplay of "meat is murder!" and "artificial = bad...

...natural = good" thinking on this issue.

[The River]

9. The Meat is a Pale White Color

they use beet root juice to color it.
In the movie, "Soylent Green" also came in red and yellow.
If this is the future, I'm going vegan.

[librechik]

11. I always thot Soylent Red was dogs and Soylent Green was rats.

but I have no facts to back that up.

[Warpy]

12. Dunno about that

Think about fake meat being grown in trays instead of being produced on feed lots and in slaughterhouses. If you've ever driven by a feed lot in August, you'd know what I mean when I say that's got to be the absolute worst way to finish meat possible, animals standing knee deep in their own waste and crowded into pens where there is nothing to do but eat unhealthy food so that their muscle tissue becomes loaded with fat. That fat might make undercooked meat nice and tender, but it's killing us the way it would kill the animals if it went on long enough.

Then there's the horror of the slaughterhouse and what it does to the workers, mostly undocumented Mexicans, who work there. It's bloody, nasty and dangerous work.

I eat beef once a year when the first cold snap makes me crave it. I gravitate to the grass fed stuff even though it's tougher because I live in feedlot country and no thanks.

Soylent beef would likely be a great substitute for many people, giving the flavor and texture of hamburger. Unfortunately, cattle would still be subject to short and terrible lives for those of us who can afford steak, since that is beyond our ability to grow at present.

Still, the prospect of real burger grown cheaply enough and without distressing animal or environment is very appealing.

[randome]

13. I agree. In addition, the way we are poisoning our environment, this will likely become standard.

In the not-too-distant future.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[NuclearDem]

14. "If this is the future, I'm going vegan."

Join us. Don't fear the tofu burger.

[The River]

16. I Actually Like Tofu

and the fake burgers are decent substitutes
but nothing beats a grilled burger.