Michael Pollan

Uma Valetti, yeah. And he's very dedicated, very idealistic. And we were given a tour and we saw these great stainless steel vats. It looks like a brewery. Um, and it's, it's very similar kind of equipment. And in those vats, uh, are cells that are removed almost by, you know, it's a biopsy essentially. You don't have to kill the animal.

Uma Valetti, yeah. And he's very dedicated, very idealistic. And we were given a tour and we saw these great stainless steel vats. It looks like a brewery. Um, and it's, it's very similar kind of equipment. And in those vats, uh, are cells that are removed almost by, you know, it's a biopsy essentially. You don't have to kill the animal.

Uma Valetti, yeah. And he's very dedicated, very idealistic. And we were given a tour and we saw these great stainless steel vats. It looks like a brewery. Um, and it's, it's very similar kind of equipment. And in those vats, uh, are cells that are removed almost by, you know, it's a biopsy essentially. You don't have to kill the animal.

Uh, you just need cells and you start duplicating them and you have to feed them. And one of the challenges, there are two big challenges, um, scaling this is that the feedstock, which has to be pharmaceutical grade, this is the kind of feedstock you would use if you were growing cell lines in a laboratory, it has to be perfectly clean.

Uh, you just need cells and you start duplicating them and you have to feed them. And one of the challenges, there are two big challenges, um, scaling this is that the feedstock, which has to be pharmaceutical grade, this is the kind of feedstock you would use if you were growing cell lines in a laboratory, it has to be perfectly clean.

Uh, you just need cells and you start duplicating them and you have to feed them. And one of the challenges, there are two big challenges, um, scaling this is that the feedstock, which has to be pharmaceutical grade, this is the kind of feedstock you would use if you were growing cell lines in a laboratory, it has to be perfectly clean.

And it's a mix of amino acids and fats and sugars and micronutrients, I assume. But you get a single bacteria in there and the bacteria will multiply much faster than your meat cells and you've got to throw out the whole tank. So, The issue is, and pharmaceutical-grade feedstock for cells is not cheap.

And it's a mix of amino acids and fats and sugars and micronutrients, I assume. But you get a single bacteria in there and the bacteria will multiply much faster than your meat cells and you've got to throw out the whole tank. So, The issue is, and pharmaceutical-grade feedstock for cells is not cheap.

And it's a mix of amino acids and fats and sugars and micronutrients, I assume. But you get a single bacteria in there and the bacteria will multiply much faster than your meat cells and you've got to throw out the whole tank. So, The issue is, and pharmaceutical-grade feedstock for cells is not cheap.

The issue is, can a company like Cargill make trainloads of this stuff that will be so clean that you can use it? And that's a really open question. There's nothing that clean in our food system. If you've been in a slaughterhouse, if you've been in a grain elevator, doing things at that level of cleanliness is going to be very difficult.

The issue is, can a company like Cargill make trainloads of this stuff that will be so clean that you can use it? And that's a really open question. There's nothing that clean in our food system. If you've been in a slaughterhouse, if you've been in a grain elevator, doing things at that level of cleanliness is going to be very difficult.

The issue is, can a company like Cargill make trainloads of this stuff that will be so clean that you can use it? And that's a really open question. There's nothing that clean in our food system. If you've been in a slaughterhouse, if you've been in a grain elevator, doing things at that level of cleanliness is going to be very difficult.

The other, though, is that in these tanks, you can multiply cells, but the final product doesn't look like a chicken breast and doesn't look like a steak. It looks like a slurry. And you can form that into chicken nuggets and form it into hamburgers. But to make cuts of meat takes another very expensive process that hasn't been perfected. And...

The other, though, is that in these tanks, you can multiply cells, but the final product doesn't look like a chicken breast and doesn't look like a steak. It looks like a slurry. And you can form that into chicken nuggets and form it into hamburgers. But to make cuts of meat takes another very expensive process that hasn't been perfected. And...

The other, though, is that in these tanks, you can multiply cells, but the final product doesn't look like a chicken breast and doesn't look like a steak. It looks like a slurry. And you can form that into chicken nuggets and form it into hamburgers. But to make cuts of meat takes another very expensive process that hasn't been perfected. And...

So when we went there, I got the full tour with Uma and he explained what he was up to. And then he sat me down and they cooked me a chicken breast.

So when we went there, I got the full tour with Uma and he explained what he was up to. And then he sat me down and they cooked me a chicken breast.

So when we went there, I got the full tour with Uma and he explained what he was up to. And then he sat me down and they cooked me a chicken breast.

Not quite. But we were fooled into thinking that the process we had just seen had produced this chicken breast. And this chicken breast, it was an impressive piece of technology in that It was a chicken breast. It wasn't like a beyond meat chicken breast. It was a chicken breast. It was kind of tough. And it cost, he said, like $500 to produce. It was this big.

Not quite. But we were fooled into thinking that the process we had just seen had produced this chicken breast. And this chicken breast, it was an impressive piece of technology in that It was a chicken breast. It wasn't like a beyond meat chicken breast. It was a chicken breast. It was kind of tough. And it cost, he said, like $500 to produce. It was this big.