With the world’s population expected to reach nine billion people by 2050, it’s becoming impossible to produce and to consume the same quantities of meat like we do today. Climate change, energy use, animal diseases and global food shortages are just some of the problems facing mankind, not to mention the issue of animal welfare on factory farms.
With this in mind, Next Nature Network and Submarine Channel present Bistro In Vitro, an online interactive documentary, directed by Koert van Mensvoort. Bistro In Vitro, a science fiction about the future of meat, with a chic fictional virtual restaurant as its main platform. What if a restaurant like Bistro In Vitro would exist tomorrow? What would it look like and what would be on the menu? On the restaurant website you will find photos, texts and videos of future culinary creations along with video interviews with visionary scientists, experts, renowned chefs and critics. Bistro In Vitro aims to reflect on the ethics, aesthetics and prospects of lab-grown meat. Bistro in Vitro makes people think and wants to instigate a discussion on a possible new food culture.
Naturally, the societal relevance of in-vitro meat plays an important part in its acceptance. If you ask people on the street if they would eat In Vitro meat when it hits their local supermarket, the answer would be mostly negative. In the minds of the consumer, in-vitro meat is considered as an inferior product compared to “real” meat, because it is artificial and technological. Oddly enough, most critics consume completely abstracted meat products, such as perfectly square cubes of chicken meat, canned ham, the Dutch mini croquette and sandwich meat with faces drawn on it.
Some researchers expect that in-vitro meat grown from stem cells in a bioreactor could provide a sustainable and animal-friendly alternative to conventional meat. In 2013 the world’s first lab grown burger was cooked. Nevertheless, many people still find it an unattractive notion to eat meat that was grown in a lab. Before we can decide whether we will ever be willing to consume in-vitro meat, we must first explore the new food products it may bring us
The project
On Bistro In Vitro you can navigate through the online science fiction documentary. Presented as a real restaurant, you can choose your own menu (starter, main course and desert), share the menu of your choice on social media, listen to visionary scientists, experts, international renowned chefs and critics or browse through several essays and interesting background information on in-vitro meat.
”Een toegankelijke introductie in de wonderlijke en grenzeloze wereld van kweekvlees” – Munchies, Vice
”Bistro In Vitro is een een virtuele speeltuin om over de toekomst van vlees na te denken” – NPR The Salt
”Ook al lijkt het futuristisch, het zou veel sneller kunnen gaan dan we voor mogelijk houden.” – Bright Magazine
“Het is een vorm van online-theater, maar wel over een belangrijk onderwerp: de toekomst van vlees.” – Trouw
” Deze concept gerechten van kweekvlees zien er soms vies uit, maar het is een fascinerende manier om naar de toekomst te kijken” – CNET Tomorrow Daily
”Het is een interessant experiment met een belangrijke vraag over kweekvlees: zullen mensen de stap daadwerkelijk nemen, ook al zijn wetenschappers het eens over de mogelijkheden?” – Gizmodo
”Ik maakte een reservering voor mijn zitplaats en wilde meer en meer weten’ – Pittsburg Post Gazette
“En dat is wanneer het echt leuk wordt: want wat betekent het dan nog om vegetariër te zijn?” – Motherboard Vice.
