If you come to Nes Ziona in the near future (assuming there will be no closure), don't miss out on visiting the new restaurant - The Chicken. Not only will you be able to get a schnitzel name on a bun for free, but you will also witness the future in the making: this schnitzel is grown in a lab, without any chicken being harmed in the production process
If you come to Nes Ziona in the near future (assuming there will be no closure), don't miss out on visiting the new restaurant - The Chicken. Not only will you be able to get a schnitzel name on a bun for free, but you will also witness the future in the making: this schnitzel is grown in a lab, without any chicken being harmed in the production process. Oh, and through a large glass wall you can see the production plant where the lab meat is grown.
The Israeli company SuperMeat is behind the idea, and as mentioned - does not charge a single shekel for the laboratory meat it serves to guests. All she asks for is feedback about the food, so she can understand if the meat is ready for mass production and consumption.
According to the CEO of the company, Ado Sabir, the piece of chicken served at the restaurant in a brioche bun and toppings looks exactly like regular chicken meat, and also comes with the same taste. "The feedback from multiple panels of tasters was consistent: the meat is no different from conventionally produced chicken, and it's just a great-tasting chicken burger."[1]
The production process of laboratory meat begins with stem cells extracted from poultry, and since then they continue to divide and multiply in number. In this way there is no need to harvest more and more chickens to obtain muscle cells that can grow in the laboratory - which would destroy the whole point both morally and in terms of the logistics involved in the matter. According to Sabir, the small and experimental factory they opened is capable of producing more than a hundred kilograms of chicken meat every week. And all this, as mentioned, without needing even one hen (except for the first one who sacrificed her stem cells for the good of the cause).
I have already written a lot about laboratory meat - or as the food companies try to market it, "clean meat". It has certain disadvantages, for example the price, but they are mainly due to the fact that the technology is still in its infancy and needs more time to develop. Nevertheless, it is impossible to ignore its outstanding advantages, which are clear even to the eyes of the most burned-out carnivores (very pleasant). There's a reason it's called "clean meat": it's free of bacteria and viruses that tend to incubate in the bodies of animals, free of antibiotics that animals are exposed to, doesn't harm the environment to the same degree as raising animals on farms, and perhaps most importantly for many - free of guilt for taking a life Unnecessarily.
It is important to note that it is chickens - which are raised densely and with appalling efficiency - that are not the biggest harm to soil and air pollution. Cattle and sheep - cows and sheep - are the main culprits in the matter, and release greenhouse gases in abundance through belching on the one hand and emissions on the other. The livestock industry also draws huge amounts of water to irrigate and wash the animals - and in return returns equally huge amounts of waste that can seep into the underground water reservoirs. Last but not least, cattle and sheep are responsible for a significant part of deforestation - a practice in which forest trees are cut down to clear the area for agriculture and grazing. The clean meat does not suffer from the same problems. not even close. Instead of investing in growing the entire mass of the cow or sheep but enjoying only eating the muscles and internal organs, laboratories concentrate only on growing the edible parts, without having to support all the unnecessary mass.
Despite all these advantages, don't expect to enjoy laboratory meat in a shawarma near your home any time soon. Even the SuperMeat company intends to launch the clean meat in restaurants only in a year or two. In terms of startups, this means that it will probably take them at least another three years to achieve this feat. The company plans to open commercial-scale food production plants within five years, and compare the cost of producing lab meat to the cost of regular meat shortly thereafter.
And what will happen when they manage to reach this level in the production of laboratory meat?
The answer can be found from previous revolutions in the field of food. If in 1920 citric acid was produced from plants, then just one decade later, eighty percent of all citric acid in the world was produced synthetically. In the early 1989s, all insulin for human use was produced from animals. In the early nineties, almost one hundred percent of all insulin in the world was produced by genetically modified microorganisms. In 2, riboflavin – also known as vitamin B2 – was produced entirely from plants and animals. A decade later… well, you get the point. Almost all vitamin BXNUMX in the world is currently produced by genetically engineered microorganisms. Revolutions in the field of food are happening fast. Originally a report by RethinkX.
Revolutions in the food sector, therefore, happen quickly and usually under the noses of consumers. I guess none of you bothered to ask where the citric acid in his lemonade comes from, or the vitamin B2 in the fortified foods he eats. Most likely, when it comes to meat, we will pay more attention to its source - but this very fact can help clean meat to be even more successful, since it enjoys all the same advantages that we have already mentioned.
The world is currently trying to find ways to feed an increasing number of people, who are interested in a higher and higher standard of living - with everything that entails, such as eating meat every day. To do this in the best way and still preserve the quality of the environment, we will need a breakthrough that changes the playing field completely. The clean meat is probably the most promising direction for such a breakthrough. And if people can choose to eat meat without feelings of guilt - for harming nature, life or the pocket - and still enjoy its good taste, then it is clear what they will choose.
The opposition to genetic engineering could be damaging
or not. Scientists have pinned similar hopes on genetically modified crops, which can be grown in a way that damages the environment less than 'natural' plants. I write 'natural' in quotation marks because today there is almost no edible plant that has not undergone some kind of manipulation, either by slow improvement, genetic engineering, or by introducing random mutations into its genetic code, a small portion of which have resulted in the desired result. Some green organizations chose to make genetically modified plants their favorite punching bag, and the public believed them and voted with their feet. As a result, the European Union today chooses to practically boycott the genetically modified soy coming from the United States, and prefers to import soy from South America, where vast areas of forest are burned to make room for the cultivation of the plants, while harming the quality of the environment.
I have no doubt that the public can be incited against clean meat as well. Various organizations can claim that it is meat produced in laboratories that use substances dangerous to health, or that there is always a fear of infection from viruses grown in the nearby laboratory. There will certainly also be an abundance of pseudo-scientific claims and unfounded concerns - for example, the fear of developing cancer following eating the stem cells used to create the initial cell culture (even though these should not have a trace in the meat served to the diners, and even if they did - they died in the cooking process). The successful campaign against genetic engineering proves that prejudices, fear of changes and attempts at incitement can stop any promising new technology.
Will the clean meat succeed in conquering the market? Or will it fail and be abandoned by the side of the road for decades? Only the public can decide on this point, and a good way to show your support for clean meat is to try to make a reservation at the world's first clean meat restaurant, a two-hour drive from you at the most. You will also enjoy free schnitzel, and you will also take part in a technological revolution that is about to change the world for the better.
[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/90572093/at-the-first-lab-grown-meat-restaurant-you-can-eat-a-cultured-chicken-sandwich
More of the topic in Hayadan:
