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Mar 7, 2012

The Most Advanced Fake Meat in the World Is Still Gross

I've never understood the desire of some vegetarians to make their food resemble meat; it's creepy and seems to contradict their love of vegetables. Sadly, the practice shows now sign of stopping so, with some reluctance, I present to you the most advanced fake meat in the world.

What you're looking at here is the product of the LikeMeat research project—a collaboration designed to make the meatiest fake meats the world has ever seen. From a rather wonderful press release:
"It looks like a cutlet, it's juicy and fibrous like a cutlet, and it even chews with the consistency of a real cutlet — but the ingredients are 100 percent vegetable."
But enough talk. I know you're dying to know how they make it. Oh boy, it sounds tasty:
"The main ingredients — water and plant proteins — are brought to a boil and slowly cooled down... As the temperature sinks, the protein molecules start to form chains. This gives rise to a fibrous structure that is quite similar to that of meat."
Yum. Sadly, the researchers are only able to produce 60 to 70 kilos of the meat substitute per hour at the moment, but Florian Wild, one of the team, reassures us that its "consistency and texture are already superb."

While I can't deny that a modest reduction in meat consumption might be a good thing for the planet, the solution isn't to eat the products of LikeMeat; the solution is just to eat a few more vegetables. In the meantime, fake meat might be more advanced, but it's still gross. More here.



6 comments:

Outcast said...

I have to agree that this does sound kind of icky, all I can say is thank God that I don't have to eat this kind of thing!

Jim said...

Sounds gross, I wonder how much its gonna cost for a pack.

R said...

That's so interesting!

MRanthrope said...

my friend is a vegetarian and has tried getting me to eat this knock off meat product stuff all the time. Gross indeed.

Anonymous said...

Nyam

anthony stemke said...

I think the reason for the "fake meats" is to attract dyed in the wool meat eaters.

I remember back in the early 1970's, meat prices rose very sharply. All of a sudden there were TVP (textured vegetable protein) products that mimicked ground beef. A big company in the mid-west spent milions developing fake chicken pieces and fake ham chunks. They were in what looked like half-gallon milk cartons. Personaly, I loved them, but the company abandoned the project.

But to me, the cost is one thing and the price is too. And the purity of the product counts also.