Here’s how the first bite of ‘cell-cultivated’ meat tastesBy Jonel Aleccia / APWhen I told friends and family I was reporting on the first chicken meat grown from animal cells, their first comment was “Eww.” Their second comment was: “How does it taste?”The short answer (you’ve probably heard this sentence before in other contexts): Tastes like chicken. Yes, it’s strange to think of eating a totally new kind of meat — chicken that doesn’t come from a chicken, meat that will be sold as “cell-cultivated” chicken after the US Agriculture Department on Wednesday gave the green light to two California firms, Upside Foods and Good Meat. And in this case, to the larger question behind it: Is this new material in fact chicken, or is it an impostor? And the texture was both tender and chewy, like a well-cooked chicken thigh should be. There are still huge hurdles — how to scale up manufacturing and pare back costs, experts say, and the lingering question of whether chicken without the bird is, in fact, chicken — but if you’re basing it on authentic taste, I’ll leave you with this:Please pass the “chicken.”
