The Tel Aviv Restaurant Serving Up Cultivated Chicken
Since its founding in 2015, SuperMeat, the Israeli cell-based chicken maker, has been doing the hard work to change the way cultivated meat is produced. The innovative and infamously expensive technologies behind cultivated meat have kept start-up companies in a turtle race as they slowly alter production to become more cost-effective and ultimately make their debut in the consumer market. With frontline companies projecting timelines for their market breakthrough within the coming years (via Food Dive), many are waiting in anticipation.
It's no secret that many plant-based alternatives fall flat with some consumers, making the demand for cultivated meat that much stronger. With access to cell-based proteins, people who follow cruelty-free and environmentally conscious diets can enjoy the full experience of eating meat — and that time is coming soon. However, if the wait seems like too much to bear, SuperMeat's Tel Aviv restaurant, The Chicken, is preparing their cell-based chicken on site and serving it to customers, offering a dining experience unlike anywhere else.
From the lab to the table
The Chicken takes farm to table dining to a whole new level as the first restaurant allowing their customers a rare glimpse into the manufacturing processes of cultured meat. Located in the same building as SmartMeat's pilot-plant facility (via Food Dive), visitors are offered a first-hand look into SuperMeat's lab, where they can watch food engineers create the same cultivated chicken being offered on the restaurants menu. Served on a sandwich and golden fried, The Chicken has served SmartMeat's chicken to hundreds of happy customers.
Even Michal Ansky, a professional taster on the TV series Master Chef, came in to The Chicken for a taste. In the world's first blind-taste test of cultivated meat, Time reported that Michal couldn't distinguish the lab grown chicken from the real thing — and she's a professional. In fact, Michal preferred SuperMeat's chicken. How can that be possible? As CEO, Ido Savir, told Sifted, SuperMeat's chicken starts with cells from Label Rouge chickens, a gourmet breed from France.
Additionally, their closed control system provides high quality control that is consistent in every batch, giving every cut the same flavor and nutritional value — something Healthline says is inconsistent across meat from conventionally raised chickens. Despite coming from the cells of high-class birds, The SuperMeat chicken sandwiches are currently offered for the considerably reasonable price of $23.