Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech's Race for the Future of Food

by Chase Purdy

The trillion-dollar meat industry is one of our greatest environmental hazards; it pollutes more than all the world's fossil-fuel-powered cars. Global animal agriculture is responsible for deforestation, soil erosion, and global-warming gases. It also depends on the slaughter of more than 60 billion animals per year.

But a band of doctors, scientists, activists, and entrepreneurs have been racing to end animal agriculture as we know it, hoping to fulfill a dream of creating meat without ever having to kill an animal. In the laboratories of Silicon Valley companies, Dutch universities, and Israeli startups, scientists are growing burgers and steaks from microscopic animal cells and inventing systems to do so at scale--allowing us to feed the world without slaughter and environmental devastation.

Drawing from exclusive and unprecedented access to the main players, from polarizing activist-turned-tech CEO Josh Tetrick to lobbyists and regulators on both sides of the issue, Billion Dollar Burger follows the people fighting to upend our food system as they butt up against the entrenched interests fighting viciously to stop them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Business, Science, Technology, Environment, Audiobook

272 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2020

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

It looks like within 5 years we will have meats we cannot even dream the flavours and textures of. And it will be healthy. In 10 years only the very poor in third world countries for whom meat is a very occasional treat and the first-world very well-off who never think they are but if they compare themselves to the maids they pay minimum wage to, and the valets at the restaurants who park their cars, and their nannies and PAs and all the other home and office support staff they cannot do without... will still eat real, farm-raised beef steaks.

This was a very interesting book about the development after real meat 'pastes' or textures that will make pates, sausages and fillings in the US, Japan and other developed countries from cells from a living animal (which needn't be killed and no it won't suffer more than as much as drawing a vial of blood) or else from foetuses which is not such a pleasant thought. More interesting is Israel's take on it, they are going for texture as well as taste and are developing artificial vascular systems to grow the meat on. The reasoning is that it is fat that carries the taste, which is why marbled steaks are so expensive. It is easier to grow muscle cells for texture, but fat cells are very difficult.

Growing muscle meat/paste is dropping the cells into a feeding mixture, which is why some of the giant pharmaceutical companies have invested heavily - they expect to supply these nutritional liquids, and researching ways to make them grow quicker and to a bigger size.

Fat cells won't grow in these liquids, they need a 3D template with some kind of vascular-type system to grow on. It's very difficult apparently, it's probably more than 5 years away but the result is likely to be meat that has all the taste and texture people enjoy and needn't be surrounded by pastry or sauce.

Interestingly, behind all this development are some vegan entrepreneurs. They are more pragmatic than the activists I'm not talking about reasonable vegans, I have been vegan on and off most of my life so I do have some idea, I'm talking about those who get out there with their signs and pickets and smear themselves in fake blood and write over-the-top stuff on news websites who consider any use of any animal is murder and not having thought things through can't come up with a realistic way of getting to an animal-free diet but just want to what, defund the butchers and farms! These vegan entrepreneurs realise that people don't want to give up meat, but if it could be raised in labs rather than farms it might not be a 100% solution, but will go a great way towards that. And obviously the end-game is that animal cells from labs will be the parents of the next generation of lab meat, and not real animals.

One thing those who think it is better to read electronic books than print ones which kill trees I'm not talking about people who like reading ebooks but don't think that print ones should be done away with and vegans who think everyone should go plant-based, is the effects on the environment and animals these would have.

Tree plantations for paper are huge forests of trees that are left 10-20 years undisturbed. And in them live animals and insects and birds and plants without being threatened by people. It is estimated 27K trees are cut down every day but more than that are planted. If books disappear, the owners of these plantations will downsize (we still need toilet paper!) and so the undisturbed environments for animals will also be downsized. Then there is the problem that ebooks tend to be 'rented' and the contents can and often is altered by authors who have changed the ending, corrected typos.... and possibly one day, not possibly, probably, made politically-correct according to the government of the day. What is happening to statues could happen to books. So no one would know the true history, only a revisionist version. We must have original books printed on paper.

If we all went plant-based tomorrow, what would happen to these huge industrial farms? First thing is they'd kill all the animals. Hundreds of millions of cows, pigs, chickens and the rest would be slaughtered and the owners of these farms would turn to some sort of industrial thing that would make them just as much money. Do vegans think the animals will just be allowed to live and reproduce in peace? It wouldn't happen.

It is a very interesting book to read, the food of the future will have so much more variety and be so much healthier since these will be controllable variants. I look forward to it. Also to free-range farms of animals rather than the awful factory conditions so many of them suffer in right now.

[Hank · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was some good, some bad. I am not sure what I was hoping for when I started the book but it was more than what was delivered. The problem for me was that this did not hold much new information either about business, meat alternatives or the idea that meat is bad for the environment. I have been a vegetarian for almost 30 years now and am possibly ahead of the curve information wise but not that far.

I think the main premise of the book is to show the genesis and progress of the cell based meat industry. It walks you through the Dutch inventor who is currently assumed to be the father of the idea and traverses many of the companies trying to jump start a new industry. The information content relies heavily on Purdy's access to Josh Tetrick who is the CEO of a company at the forefront of getting these products to market. There are some interesting discussions of how cell based meat is created and a few of the hurdles the new industry faces.

My problem is finding the focus of the book. If you look at this as a business only type of book, there really is nothing new here. In general the established companies in industry will do as much as they possibly can to prevent upstarts from gaining any traction, this has been true for 1000 years (or more) and anyone who has read more than one or two books about specific businesses have already learned this. Cell based meat is new and threatens the animal based meat industry and people don't like change, so problems ensue.

If you try to frame this as a wave of the future type of book, solving climate change, scarcity of food and general peace, love and happiness type of ideals it falls flat because I am not sure the author really believes that. His anecdotes at the end with his mother are not convincing and feel thrown in to make a few more pages.

And then there is the fact that the author narrated the book. Pet peeve of mine, I say it too much, it made the book worse not better.

If you are brand new to the issues new industries face getting established or completely new to the idea that animals raised for meat (cow, chickens, pigs, etc) are probably not good for the environment and generally very heavy resource users, you might find some new knowledge reading this.

If you have read even one article about either of those subjects there are many other books that either evangelize more convincingly or have better in depth business discussions.

[Zak · Rating 4 out of 5]

The whole concept is rather fascinating. It's acknowledged fact that breeding animals for food is a highly resource-negative activity, apart from its impact on the environment. And that's before even touching on the subject of the immense suffering caused from the breeding and slaughter of tens of billions of animals each year.

Rather than trying to convince everyone to stop eating meat, some entrepreneurs have been trying to solve this problem by growing meat. Not the vegetarian kind of "meat" substitute, but actual meat cultivated from meat cells in labs. This book provides a decent overview of the key players in this endeavour and the methods and difficulties involved. It also discusses crucial factors that would affect its rate of take-up by consumers, such as taste, texture and psychology. I know I, for one, would certainly be willing to switch if it were to taste and feel pretty much like regular meat, without any side effects. Overall, it's a very exciting development that holds immense promise. I only wish the book were a little more in-depth but perhaps everything is still at a nascent stage, resulting in a paucity of material to report on. [Final rating: 3.5*]

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t even pretend to be unbiased when one of your good friends writes a book, but even if I wasn’t friends with the author I’d still give this 5 stars. I’d never really given the ethics of cell based meat much thought but Chase knocked it out of the park with his reporting from (apologies in advance for this phrase) both sides — and by that I mean he talked to both scientists and farmers and ranchers and broke down the many problems of government regulation of the meat industry for people with no prior knowledge of it. High recommend.

[Niklas Pivic · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is all about how the hunt for the replacement for meat is going, from the perspective of a handful of modern-day companies, based on the premise that vegetables and other items of yore wouldn’t exist. Almost, anyway.

In 2006, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization published a landmark report that estimated animal farming is the source of some 18 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the cars, ships, trains, and planes that crisscross the globe belching smoke. The report said 9 percent of the globe’s human-related carbon dioxide emissions could be tied back to animal agriculture, 37 percent of methane emissions, and 65 percent of nitrous oxide (mostly from cow manure). The report got a lot of attention and triggered a wave of people—activists and entrepreneurs alike—to take action. But it didn’t go unchallenged, and since then scientists have produced more nuanced findings. The beef and dairy industries get most of the attention, as they contribute 41 percent and 20 percent of the sector’s overall greenhouse gas emissions, respectively. The pork industry creates about 9 percent of emissions, and the broiler chicken and egg industries collectively contribute about 8 percent. Cows do more damage because of their digestive process, which, through fermentation in their four stomachs, creates a lot of methane gas. Once released into the atmosphere, methane has about twenty times the heat-trapping power as carbon. Just how much methane a single, 1,200-pound cow produces each year depends entirely on what the animal is fed, but scientists often cite about 100 kilograms of methane, about the same as a car burning through more than 230 gallons of gasoline. Suddenly, the prospect of finding an alternative way to create real meat becomes even more enticing.

This author buys into the premise that cell-cultured meat—his term of choice used for chemically- and biologically-made meats—will help humanity. It will aid us to both stop destroying all life on the planet and end animal suffering.

In his 1984 novel The Neuromancer, William Gibson lays out a scene in which one of his futuristic cyborgs, Molly, unceremoniously snatches a cut of conventionally grown steak off someone else’s plate. “Gimme that,” she says, grabbing the dish. “You know what this costs? They gotta raise a whole animal for years and then they kill it. This isn’t vat stuff.” In Margaret Atwood’s 2003 work Oryx and Crake, she introduced readers to a truly macabre future food, ChickieNob: a live chicken engineered without any sort of typical head or even a beak; a freakish avian creation designed to grow up to twenty breasts at the same time. Only time will reveal whether Gibson’s or Atwood’s fictional visions will be far off the mark of what cell-cultured meat companies will offer us in real life. “Vat stuff” isn’t so different from what today’s earnest young collection of start-ups are hoping to usher into reality.

Naturally, most carnivores won’t eat meat if they’d have to kill it themselves. Also, if philosophy and empathy were to come into play, we wouldn’t allow animals to be killed en masse, as though it’s a must to keep humanity alive.

Purdy touches on ethics and philosophy at times during this book, mainly when quoting CEOs and other big shots that run nouvelle faux-cuisine business, but not in questioning the ethics that permeate the lovely words about the best for humanity, etc.

In just a few years, JUST had risen in prominence from a garage-bound vegan mayonnaise producer to become a fully operational food company. “It was that moment where it moved from being a company controlled by venture capitalists to—and I’ll say what it is—a company controlled by activists. Truly,” Tetrick says. The following year, in spring 2017, the company closed a Series E round of funding, which put it at a valuation of about $1.1 billion, making it Silicon Valley’s only food technology unicorn.

The protagonists in this book are capitalist companies (that are run via fascist method). Just look at the list of investing parties:

It’s not just vegans looking to fuel this nascent industry, though. Seeing the potential, plant-based and cell-cultured meat companies have garnered the attention of some of the biggest names in both food and finance. Goldman Sachs Group in January 2018 pitched money into what ultimately wound up being a $65 million investment round for Ripple Foods, which makes a milk alternative with yellow peas. Impossible Foods, the maker of the plant-based Impossible Burger, has funding from UBS, Bill Gates, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and one of JUST’s initial investors, Khosla Ventures. Tyson Foods, Cargill, and Richard Branson have invested in Memphis Meats, in which Kerr’s group had already invested.

What is interesting is to see grassroots movements cause ruckus against the corporate establishment:

The company asked Andrew Zimmern, a restaurateur and food critic, to create, sign, and endorse a petition on Change.org. It was called “Stop Bullying Sustainable Food Companies,” and eventually drew more than 111,000 signatures. “When a $60 billion company flexes its muscles to prevent a good-for-the-world startup company from succeeding, there are only two words for that: corporate bullying,” the petition read.

A swell of interest in the petition drew the attention of the media, and before long the San Francisco–based CBS affiliate, KPIX, ran a short story on JUST and its battle against the larger forces within the world of food. “For some fucking reason, the Drudge Report picks it up,” Tetrick exclaimed, still stupefied by the event years later. The story on the Drudge Report linked directly to the CBS news story, which then went viral.

At the same time, food bloggers were homing in on the fight. Michele Simon, the future executive director of the Plant Based Foods Association, said she wrote and posted about the Unilever lawsuit about a month after it was filed. She sent a link to her post on EatDrinkPolitics.com to The New York Times food business reporter Stephanie Strom. Just one day later, on November 10, the American newspaper of record published a story detailing to its wide audience the beef between Unilever and JUST. And a week after that, the Associated Press wrote a story of its own, followed by another story in The New York Times.

“I have The New York Times stories framed in my office,” said Simon. “It was the most fun I’d had in my activist career.” As Tetrick remembers, for the next thirty or so days, people visited Unilever’s official Facebook page to leave dozens of posts complaining about how the company was going after a much smaller one. “I don’t think they’d seen anything like this,” Tetrick said. “We started this campaign, and thirty-three or thirty-four days later Unilever drops the lawsuit.” It was a stunning and important win for the people working at JUST.

However, let’s look at that clearly: JUST is a company that is driven by money. The people who were helping JUST to regale against Unilever did so while pushing a company that might simply get bought by Unilever or push an agenda similar to theirs in a minute. We’ll see.

Ultimately, this book was a quick read. The author is good at managing paragraphs that are easily read but the book didn’t make for rapacious reading. If I were forced to concatenate what this book is about, I’d say it’s a simple-minded, drawn-out marketing blurb for the mechanics behind trying to create food that looks like it’s animals or made by animals; eating animals and what they create is mainly bad and, yes, the world will go under if some of us don’t find alternatives, but I miss the answers to my many whys, which is somewhere that the book Eat Like You Care: An Examination of the Morality of Eating Animals, by Gary L. Francione and Anna Charlton, went a long way with. I’ll remember this book like reading innocuous and glib ads.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all eat and all live on 🌎 so this is book that will make you more aware. Conservatives read between the lines of the liberal tones and get the overall impact of the message and facts presented. Tech could and probably will alter the food food supply chain so not reading this book means you might get your lunch eaten.


Takeaways👂 Picked up on ⤵️

I montozied the block
Face it you ain't shit
Cell cultured meat
10 billion people will be on Earth by 2050
success is undeniable
His words tumble out so rapidly and confidently His
It's clear you've given this soliquly before
Meat alternative market
The food system that we have built over the last century is a dead end for the future
Cellular agriculture
I'm not interested in playing nice
Hoodie drawing technology Bros
What casts you into gloomy moods?
I spent decades urging the world....
Why does something have to die for us to live?
I think he sensed in me that there was potential
I'm allergic to the idea
You don't realize your stitching together your own nuice sometimes
A coup or coup d'état /ˌkuː deɪˈtɑː/ listen (help. · info) (French: [ku deta], literally "blow of state"; plural: coups d'état, pronounced like the singular form, also known simply as an ousting, overthrow or putsch) is the forcible removal of an existing government from power through violent means.



Wikipedia › wiki › Coup_d'état

Coup d'état - Wikipedia


Satisfy inordinate greed
70 billion animals die a year to feed the population
Explain to me your company's long-term ambitions?
A lot of this might seem further away from home and easier to ignore

[Carolien · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I have spent the past 20-odd years in agricultural finance and one of the topics that we are considering is what will the definition of a “farm” be in future. This book provides a good overview of the main themes in cell-based meat developments including a brief history of the concept. It explains the basic science of obtaining and growing the cells, the equipment needed and the challenges in identifying the optimal growing media. It also delves into the developing regulatory framework, the response from big agriculture and challenges for social acceptance of the output. It is clear from the content that this is very much a technology and market-based approach. Some companies aim to take advantage of more environmentally conscious consumers, while others are more focused on food security given the potential impact of climate change.

Focusing on one entrepreneur in the form of Josh Tetrick from JUST provided a personal perspective, but I didn’t find him a very compelling character. It feels as if the author wanted to follow a similar approach to Michael Lewis in the structure of the book, but he didn’t quite pull it off.

Based on the content, I am more confident to engage on the subject having a better (although broad) understanding of the themes in the sector. If you need a detailed view of any of these aspects, this is not the book for you. If you are however looking for an overview that will allow you to interpret and understand other articles and material on cell-based meat, this is a good start.

I reviewed it for the Farmer's Inside Track podcast here: https://www.foodformzansi.co.za/podca...

[Kevin Keating · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating topic that is flying under the radar. Book started off pretty well and then bogged down and got boring, picking up only sporadically. I think the problem was with the writer's style. I usually like stories written by journalists, but I found the writing here to be not very good. Bounced around, was often redundant, confused and disorganized. I could imagine the writer saying, "I need fifty more pages! Where can I add fluff?" The subject of "cell-based" meat, or meat grown in a vat, from cells of a living animal, is interesting and important. Could resolve many water, food and climate issues. Big for the environment. Deserves a better treatment.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a food scientist, this book definitely spoke to my interests. I liked the personal touch of focusing on Tetrick, so the book wasn’t solely the science or business of cell-cultured meat. That said, it would’ve been nice to expand and bring in even more stories of other leaders in the field. Overall it was an easy read (well, listen) and I think it’s well-written for a wide audience!

[Susan M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had a front row seat to this movement (and am quoted in the book) so was curious to read it. I would say mostly accurate but missed a few key things. Too heavy on Tetrick and Just - I would have liked to see more balance on cultured seafood. The oceans don’t have enough seafood for us all to eat according to dietary guidelines so big potential there (and no mercury either!)

[David Tagliaferri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would have been better at one third of the length. There are some interesting points in the book. It reads liek a NYtimes magazine article. The parts that are superfluous are all about the personalities in the cell cultured meat industry. Especially Josh Tetrick. This guy seems,like a a Steve Jobs wannabe in the worst possible way. Who cares about this jerk. I sure don't. Cell cultured meat will come to the market with or without Tetrick and it would be better without him. Who cares if he invited the authors mother to dinner.

[Arjun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Currently perusing the content of Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech's Race for the Future of Food

[Bipin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read. Heard about it in an interview of the author on Science Vs. posdcast. That was the first time I heard about cell-cultured meat. The premise seemed interesting and is about one of the up and coming technologies. This book is kinda informative. Easy writing style, not too technical. I was expecting a little bit more technical details about the science behind this technology (that's what it is at this point). But this book is mostly about the narrative of the cell-cultured meat, a discussion on how to tell the story of cell-cultured meat so as not to frighten the consumers and dealing with the 'traditional' meat farms, with a background from the conception of the idea by Willem van Eelen to the present day. A couple of technical details that were mentioned made me doubt the author's ability to interpret scientific data, so maybe it was good that that wasn't the focus of the book.
One thing I would have appreciated knowing before reading the book is that the author is trying to make Josh Tetrick the poster boy for the cell-cultured meat industry (a chapter dedicated to his thirty something years of life, following a chapter on Willem van Eelen, maybe a subconscious cue, maybe not). It seemed to me like he sold the other CEOs short (maybe just didn't get a chance to get to know them). To the author's credit, he was critical of Josh a few times. But, with all his talk about Josh, the author reminded me of Rebecca Bunch.
Since global warming is one of the major propellants of this field, I would really like to know how eco-friendly the industrial scale cell-culturing would be. I assume it would still be better and kinder than industrial animal farming, but estimate would go a long way. Several questions still remain. Is the waste from this industry considered biohazardous? Because if such waste is incinerated, it might not be as eco-friendly as expected. How do they control the quality for mutations and tumors (how are tumors defined in cell-cultured meat)? Is that even a valid health concern? These are valid questions for animal farming too, guess I have some googling to do.

[Tyler Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book focuses on the companies working on making cell grown meat. It's not something I knew a ton about, so I did find parts of it pretty interesting/informative. I thought it did a pretty fair job highlighting both the potential upsides and downsides, as well as the struggles these companies will face.

That said, I'm not sure a book was the best form to learn about this. It was a bit of a slog to read through at times, and though it was published recently (2020), I'm sure a lot has already changed in this industry. It was also pretty dismissive of companies like Beyond or Impossible, which have already delivered on more environmentally friendly meat substitutes. Cell grown meat is obviously different from these products - it's meant to be indistinguishable from a regular burger/chicken breast, but they both serve similar goals of reducing our food's environmental impact.

I also have to imagine most of the people who read this book and are interested in the subject are already likely reducing their meat consumption and reducing their carbon footprint. People who are skeptical of the idea aren't too likely to read ~300 pages about cell grown meat.

Still, if they can get the product to market in the next year or two (it's closer to being consumer ready than I realized), I will definitely try it.

[Rachael Zhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall fascinating read for someone who knew little about the cultivated meat industry. Good balance of the science, economics and regulatory condition of how a piece of cell-based meat makes its way to the end consumer.

I particularly enjoyed the author’s account of conversations with entrepreneurs and food scientists, that bring to light the cultural and religious associations with food (and meat!) throughout history.

There is no doubt that our current agriculture and food system needs to transform rapidly to address challenges of environmental degradation as well as food security. I genuinely believe that there is a role for cell-based meat to play in the future, provided that regulators collaborate with scientists and entrepreneurs.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting but not very deep dive into what the future of the meat industry might look like. The author does a good job of explaining how "cell-cultured" meat is created and takes a look at how some companies are competing to become the first to market. The most in-depth look is at the company JUST, and I have to say it made me interested in trying some of its products. The chapter that most interested me was the regulatory process that these companies must struggle through, especially with the fierce resistance coming from the industrial meat industry. Overall it's an easy read that offers a glance at what may end up on our dinner tables soon enough.

[Nir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Invigorating, inspiring and also made me frustratingly expectant.
I saw this book recommended by Mosa Meat and got really excited because I have a true passion for the movement of cellular agriculture. I thought it could give me a better broad understanding of the subject and I actually feel more connected to the issue after reading this book. It explains a bit about the process of making cell-cultured meat but mostly deals with the people and companies in this market, mostly "JUST". It also explains a lot about the political and mental barriers that the meat industry imposes on this new technology to prevent it from getting into the market.
Because I wholeheartedly believe that this technology is the upcoming source most of us are going to purchase our meat from, I actually recommend this book to anyone.

[Kirsten Thijssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purdy beschrijft de ontstaansgeschiedenis van een aantal kweekvleesbedrijven. Hij laat zien wat de potentie van de technologie is en welke uitdagingen er nog zijn om kweekvlees op de markt te krijgen. Naast jubelende voordelen geeft hij ook ruimte aan tegenargumenten. Op basis daarvan brainstormt hij vervolgens over wat voor een communicatie/situatie er nodig is om ‘normale’ mensen zover te krijgen dat zij kweekvlees zouden willen proberen.

Vond het fijn om ook meer over de techniek achter kweekvlees te lezen. Purdy beschrijft dat op een basic Jip & Janneke manier die ik nog niet eerder zo duidelijk was tegengekomen.

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Purdy explores the bourgeoning field of lab-grown meat mainly from the point of view of competing start-up companies’ approaches, different countries’ regulatory regimes and the people leading the way. He quickly, but adequately, covers the science behind this new technology and then focuses on the people leading or working on the many start-ups across the globe. He also devotes some time to the unease some feel about “human-made meat”, allowing for the multiple angles from which this unease comes. While the book is not particularly riveting, Purdy does manage to get the reader pondering about the possible future for this significant technology.

[Rohit Manghnani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating on how Flood will evolve

Well researched. Somewhere it drags in the 2nd half by being recitative but overall very insightful. Also very Western world view where it talks of Kosher market for Jews but not the larger Jhatka markets present for Hindus and Sikhs. Does not cover the industry as a whole. Animal meat may get replaced by Lab meat or Plant based Meat or bit of both. The book does not cover the cost benefit of plant based substitutes versus cell grown meats

[Geneva Valek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely munched this book in 60 seconds flat. What a bloody delightful journey! Inspired by a uni lecture I took on cultured meat earlier this month, I thought I would give this a spin. I have a lot of feelings about this new tech and I cannot wait to a) eat it b) see where it goes and c) watch the world become a better place for it.
Beyond the juicy meat of the topic itself, Purdy wove a story that was nigh-on-impossible to put down. Loved every bite. I am so sorry for the buns, I mean puns. Cough cough lol.

[Srivas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject matter is fascinating, but this book doesn’t really do it justice. There is not much about the science here; like, come on. You’re talking about people making steaks outside of a cow! The treatment of the emerging regulatory environment is somewhat more interesting.
Mainly though the author fangirls over one particular silicon valley entrepreneur in this space, and ends with wooly and insipid blather in the Alice Waters vein.
Stars only for the subject matter; I haven’t read any other books about lab meat. The treatment doesn’t live up.

[Nick Lucarelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scrapes a 3 due to content matter alone. Didn't vibe with the overly personal and dramatised reporting style, aside from a few moments of clarity exploring humans' relationship with food, cooking and the dining experience. Half the book relates to various legal/regulatory battles and the usual scientific background regarding the need to decarbonise farming. Nevertheless, this is a really cool industry I can't wait to see take off, even if it still appears to be at fairly early stages.

[Delson Roche · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fascinating introduction to the world of lab made meat. Realised how much the industry has progressed in this direction.
I am still questioning, if I am open to this cruelty free meat. The book does raise the question about the secrecy of the meat's growing medium - overall a very enlightening read.

[Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much interest in artificial meat; the battle politically, has been won- with documentaries like "Samsara" and "Cowspiracy". Can targets, now be achieved, at acceptable cost? However, with uncertainity, with global warming, and the possible need to relocate farmfields, there is a bigger question. Can cell culture be applied to the entire diet? Topsoil is a huge problem.

[Ian Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book, I thought it was going to be about veggie burgers, but it's about something far more important. Cell culture meat is the future, a means to end world hunger and possibly even curb climate change. Read this book it's very good. Boring in some parts I'll admit, but the main idea is trying to express is so important it deserves at least four stars.

[David Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like a good, mostly non-biased look into a really important advancement in food. I did find it odd that Purdy discussed asking people whether or not they would be comfortable eating lab-made meat without bringing up enough that most of us eat meat without really thinking much about where it comes from already, even in an age when we all have the access to find out.

[William Milks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. But suffers the curse of a topic that needs 100 pages, not 235.

Soooo, editor tells author to add fluff and human interest. And these sections do not work.

Edit this down to a long-form article?? It kicks ass.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

In depth look at the evolving industry of cell cultured meat which could be/should be? the future of meat in that it eliminates animal cruelty for food production and is much kinder to the planet. All this in exchange for embracing frankenfoods.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly interesting, and pretty objective. Definitely learned a few new things including the great margarine controversy (dairy industry rules everything around us) and that Memphis Meats is definitely a company to look out for in the future.