Lab-grown meat, heralded by proponents as the next big thing in food, has appeared on select restaurant menus around the U.S. after federal regulators gave the green light to two companies — Upside Foods and Good Meat — in June.
And while supporters are pushing it as an alternative to America’s meat eating ways, so far, it appears most chefs are giving a hearty “no” to the fake meat.
Some of them who spoke to The Messenger are convinced that lab-grown chicken and steak will never beat the real thing when it comes to taste, while others cite concerns about the environment, or its effect on farmers.
Pitmaster Rodney Scott, who has made his career barbecuing and smoking meat, told the Messenger he’s skeptical that meat grown in steel tanks from animal cells can produce the same variation of taste as animals that are carefully raised.
“I cook animals that have been raised on certain things and their textures and their flavors have been so different,” Scott told The Messenger.
New York-based private chef Brittney “Stikxz” Williams, who also spoke with The Messenger, said she can even tell the difference between organic and meat treated with antibiotics. So when it comes to lab-grown meat, she said, “You can’t convince me it tastes the same.”
