It is chicken meat and has the authentic flavor, aroma and appearance of chicken meat, being just as nutritious, but to savor it it is not necessary to take the life of any bird, as happens in conventional production, because it has been cultivated with techniques laboratory, and even in view of those who are going to consume it.
The farmed chicken burger. Photo courtesy of Supermeat/The Chicken
In the restaurant ‘The Chicken’ that has just opened its doors in the town of Ness Zionanear Tel Aviv, Israel’s second largest city, the menu’s main course, dubbed ‘the Chicken burger’, is a burger made with a crispy and appetizing ‘farmed chicken’ fillet and served on a semi-sweet brioche bun with dressings.
This meat is grown from chicken cell material in a series of containers with conditions conducive to biochemical reactions called ‘bioreactors’, in an adjacent pilot plant that is visible to diners through a window.
This restaurant is operating in a first stage, as a «test kitchen» for the products of the food technology firm SuperMeat and, according to its promoters, it is the first establishment in the world to bring meat grown directly from chicken cells to the table.
This Tel Aviv-based company has a team of food technologists, engineers, biologists and chefs, who work together with the food and meat industry to produce high quality poultry products, produced sustainably and respectfully with the environment. animals, they say.
Their products are in the development stage and are not commercial yet. They have launched ‘The Chicken’, as a means to provide consumers interested in this type of food with a complete and transparent experience of a «cultured meat restaurant», and at the same time to be able to show their ideas and points of view, making them participants in its evolution.
Group of diners dining at the new The Chicken restaurant near Tel Aviv, Israel. Photo courtesy of Supermeat/The Chicken
FROM THE LABORATORY TO THE KITCHEN.
Diners at this restaurant do not pay for their meals and, in exchange, SuperMeat asks them for feedback on its products, which it will produce on an industrial scale in the future.
“This initiative is an important milestone for the cultured meat industry, addressing the three key challenges for its mass marketing”, informs Efe Ido Savir, CEO and co-founder of SuperMeat. Preparing ‘The Chicken Burger’ cultured chicken meat patty. Photo courtesy of Supermeat/The Chicken
“These challenges are, to achieve a manufacturing process that can be developed on a large scale; design a clear path to cost parity with conventional meat; and ensure the production of high-quality, nutritious chicken products with an appetizing taste”, according to Savir.
The culture technique is a well-kept secret, but he explains that this meat is produced from healthy, high-quality chicken cells, without genetic manipulation or the use of antibiotics, and that it is grown immersed in a nutritive compound and a environment completely free of contaminants.
“Cultured meat production uses less water, resources and energy than conventional chicken meat production, eliminates the slaughter of animals and is carried out within a closed and controlled system, eliminating contamination and guaranteeing fresh meat with a longer shelf life. long and with consistent quality and characteristics in each batch”, he points.
The production system is based on avian stem cells that have the innate ability to multiply indefinitely, eliminating the need to return to the animal to produce more meat, and includes advanced technology from the pharmaceutical industry, according to Fast Company magazine. Diners at ‘The Chicken’ restaurant enjoy a complete and seamless cultured meat experience. Photo courtesy of Supermeat/The Chicken
ANIMAL MEAT, BUT WITHOUT SACRIFYING ANIMALS.
“The current pilot plant has the capacity to produce several hundred kilos of ‘SuperMeat chicken’ per week in a process that, in addition to avoiding cruelty to chickens, is much faster and more efficient than raising animals, and that when it produces the adequate mass of biological material inside the bioreactors, allows a daily harvest of cultured meat”, according to Savir.
He points out that guests at the restaurant can see the manufacturing plant from their seats and enjoy eating some burgers made with chicken produced under the same roof, being able to enjoy dinner and watch the production, “from our plant to your fork”. Photo courtesy of Supermeat/The Chicken
“Global demand for meat is projected to double by 2050, and in that context, cultured meat offers an innovative food system that will provide nutritional security, dramatically reduce carbon emissions and increase food security around the world.or”, according to Savir.
He anticipates that SuperMeat is looking for partners in the food and ingredient sourcing industries internationally, to work on developing high-quality meat products and making cultured meat available worldwide, as it is now in ‘The Chicken ‘. Restaurant menu card. Photo courtesy of Supermeat/The Chicken
Its burger has a juicy chicken flavor, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and participants on multiple taste panels have agreed that its meat is indistinguishable from conventional chicken and that it is “just a great tasting chicken burgerSavir said. Pilot plant for the production of cultured meat with a series of bioreactors. Photo courtesy of Supermeat/The Chicken
Savir tells Efe that they have the firm intention of including additional dishes based on cultured chicken meat in the menu of this restaurant, updating it regularly, depending on the season of the year. In the background is the cultured meat production plant, as seen by diners. Photo courtesy of Supermeat/The Chicken
“Our current goal is for this restaurant to serve as a platform for foodies, chefs and food manufacturers to experiment with high-quality cultured chicken dishes, and in the long term, we intend to bring similar production and dining environments to other regions of the world”, he concludes. Frying of an appetizing, crispy and juicy meat fillet made from cell cultures. Photo courtesy of Supermeat/The Chicken