Renowned Israeli gastronome Michal Ansky knows her food. She’s a professional taster and a Master Chef judge. So when she was invited to the world’s first public blind taste test pitting lab-grown, or cultivated, chicken up against a conventionally raised product, she jumped at the chance.
It was a historic opportunity, but she was also confident that she would be able to tell the difference.
Surrounded by cameras and perched at a restaurant bar with two other judges—an Israeli restaurateur and a food journalist—she sniffed the two samples, labelled A and B, placed in front of her….. They were both bland, she complained, lacking the fat that gives chicken breasts flavor. Both samples had been finely ground, so it was impossible to decide on mouth feel, but she would bet her money and her reputation that sample A was the real thing. It had a richer, more “chickeny” taste.
No, [SuperMeat founder Ido] Savir responded with a grin. Sample A “was grown on the other side of the window there, just a few days ago.”
Ansky’s jaw dropped. “I was wrong,” she marvelled in front of the cameras, “and I am the expert.”
