Artificial meat in a-bun-dance

Tabloids have branded it the Frankenburger, but there is nothing scary about the new chem-lab crafted patty that could potentially solve all of the world’s hunger problems – except of course the cost. Bankrolled by billionaire Sergey Brin, co-founder of website Google, the ultra-gourmet beef burger will set you back a super-sized £250,000, a whopper of a price tag!

The theoretical idea for synthetic (or in vitro meat as it’s known) goes way back. Winston Churchill as far back as 1936 stated: 

“We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium”. 

That’s one heck of a preparation time....

Dutch scientists created the 142g burger in a lengthy process straight out of science fiction. Stem cells taken from cows were cultivated in a nutrient broth inside a petri dish.  Next they were combined with elastic collagen and attached to velcro 'anchor points’ and bulked up using electrical stimuli. Finally the 20,000 tiny meat strips were minced together with 200 pieces of lab grown animal fat and the hamburger was ready for cooking and consumption.

Red beetroot juice and saffron were also added to the mix to create that authentic burger taste. However, elected taster Ms Ruetzler still stated 

“It's close to meat. It's not that juicy. The consistency is perfect (but) I miss salt and pepper!” 

We at Chaat! think that adding a little spice to the mix may have given it that extra kick to turn it from a labby meal into a happy meal (yes that’s a terrible pun, we know.)

Scientists say the next step may be manufacturing artificial chicken or fish. So with that in mind maybe we’re not too far away from creating a man-made madras or a test-tube tikka masala!