I’m Not Sold On Test Tube Meat

I’m not a very adventurous eater. Clay’s been trying to get me to eat venison for years. I just can’t, and I know I may just never try a test tube burger.

Burgers grown from the stem cells of a cow made their debut in London earlier this week. It was the result of a four-year study that cost $330,000. Each five-ounce burger took three months to grow. They added some breadcrumbs and egg powder, and red beet juice to give it some natural looking color.

Two volunteers gave it a try. One said it was close to meat, but not very juicy. The other said it feels like real meat, but the flavor is different. That could be because it doesn’t have any fat. That’s the next step – trying to give it the flavor that fat gives to meat.

What they tried on Monday could be available in stores in as little as 10 years. And it’s something that most everybody will be eating in the future. We probably don’t have much of a choice because meat production right now is going at a maximum and the need for more continues to grow. Meat consumption is expected to grow nearly 75 percent over the next 30 years. This is a way to deal with what could be a shortage of meat in the future.