Hello meat eaters, hello vegetarians. Welcome to Bistro In Vitro, the restaurant for trailblazers, world changers and nature lovers. We cook to a high standard using the latest culinary techniques and a revolutionary new ingredient: in vitro meat. Welcome to the restaurant of the future!
Why in vitro meat?
Now that the world population is heading for 9 billion in 2050, our current way of producing and consuming meat is fast becoming unsustainable. Global warming, energy consumption, animal diseases and the anticipated worldwide food shortage are just some of the pressing food related issues we will need to address, and that is before we have even considered the much debated issue of animal cruelty and factory farming.
Researchers believe that in vitro meat, produced from animal cells cultured in a bioreactor, could offer a sustainable and animal friendly alternative in the future. The first lab-grown hamburger has already been cooked.
Prof. Mark Post on the first lab grown burger
Nevertheless, many people don’t feel comfortable with the idea of eating meat grown in a lab. Fair enough, we say. Because before we can decide if we will ever be prepared to eat in vitro meat, we have to explore the food culture it will give rise to.
“We need to move beyond the idea of invitro meat as inferior meat replacement”
A fictitious restaurant
Bistro In Vitro is a fictitious restaurant with a menu of in vitro dishes that may one day end up on your plate. We prepare exclusive cuts of meat, cultured and prepared with surprising flavours and textures that you would never encounter in the wild. By exploring and pushing the boundaries of our food culture we want to do away with the idea that cultured meat is an inferior meat substitute. That is why we serve you a digital selection of sustainable, animal friendly, exciting and delicious dishes that will prompt thought and discussion on in vitro meat.
Your dream menu?
At Bistro In Vitro, our signature dishes are the exquisite Lab Pearls and the Friendly Foie Gras. But of course you could go for transparent sashimi, exotic oysters or our home grown charcuterie. We invite you to combine your favourite dishes to create your own personal menu and to reserve a virtual table in our restaurant. Because cultured meat is still in development at the moment the dishes cannot actually be prepared (yet). The star-rating for each dish indicates the technological feasibility: one star means that the dish is a long way off realisation. Five stars indicate that this dish could be produced today.
Create your menu and reserve a table
What do others say?
On the Bistro In Vitro website, besides our menu, you will find the critics’ views on in vitro meat, interviews with top chefs and articles that offer a more in-depth analysis of in vitro meat technology, history, prospects, possible pitfalls and moral implications. It is not our goal to promote cultured meat or to predict the future, but rather to show a range of potential products and culinary trends that can help us to decide what kind of future we really want. Who knows, it might not be long before the first actual in vitro meat restaurant opens its doors.
See you in the future. Bon Appétit!
