Everything You Need To Know about “Lab-Grown Meat”

Of all the so-called “alternative proteins” or “foods of the future”, it’s lab-grown meat that seems to invite the most visceral reaction of disgust. Sure, “plant-based meat” doesn’t sound particularly appetising, but it’s made from things that are ubiquitous in today’s food chain – plant protein like soy and plant oils like canola, mainly – with some extra ingredients, including, in the case of Impossible’s flagship “ground meat”, a genetically modified soy product called “heme” which makes the burger “bleed” when it’s bitten into. Many people’s first reaction to “plant-based meat” is still just to say, “Plant-based meat!? How can you make meat from a plant?” (The answer, of course, is that you need an animal to do that. Anyway.)

Continue reading…