The battle for supremacy between vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism is a never-ending one. Browse through any recipe video for a non-vegetarian dish and you¡¯ll have hundreds of vegetarians making non-vegetarians of their ¡®crimes¡¯ and switching them to the green side.
Fish is considered an essential brain food, containing important Omega 3 fatty acids and other nutrients for a healthy, lively brain.?
However, what if I told you that now you can enjoy eating meat, without any creature dying? No, it¡¯s not plant-based meat like we¡¯ve been seeing fooling people, but actual (fish) meat.
BlueNalu -- a San Diego startup grows meat from muscle tissue taken from a real fish. They put the fish under anaesthesia and extract tissues, then the stem cells from the sample are isolated and treated with enzymes.?
This is then processed in a bioreactor where it starts replicating. It is then 3D printed to the desired shape and the finished product is ready to be cooked and consumed.?
The reason why BlueNalu¡¯s creation stands out is because their variety of lab-grown meat can withstand different kinds of cooking techniques. According to CEO Lou Cooperhouse, ¡°Our medallions of yellowtail can be cooked via direct heat, steamed or even fried in oil; can be marinated in an acidified solution for applications like poke, ceviche, and kimchi, or can be prepared in the raw state.¡±
BlueNalu's chief technical officer Chris Dammann said in a statement to San Diego Union-Tribune, ¡°When we started this company, there was very little available science on the long-term propagation of fish muscle cells and no reliable culture protocol.To create a whole-muscle product from fish cells that are grown without genetic modification required considerable innovation.¡±
BlueNalu recently secured $20million in Series A backing to expand its lab-grown seafood business as an ethical and sustainable alternative to commercial fishing. Dammann says, ¡°We are not any more "lab-made" than ketchup or Oreos. They all started in a lab.¡±
Would you try this lab-grown fish meat? Tell us in the comments below.