Lab-grown meat gets exotic with human steaks, horse, and fish bladders

In Connecticut, Nanalyze has compiled a list of lab-grown meat companies pursuing exotic foods. The  media and research firm aims to educate its readers about startups going beyond consumer mainstays such as chicken nuggets and ground beef.  

First on the list, and arguably the weirdest, is the human meat steak Philadelphia artist and professor Orkan Telhan grew in a lab and has reportedly spurred a deluge of hate mail. 

The rest of the list featured weird, but not as weird, efforts such as kangaroo, horse and “cocaine of the sea” fish maw. 

Avant Meats is working to culture fish maw—the dried swim bladder of large fish that is called the cocaine of the sea because it is believed to be an aphrodisiac as well as a fertility booster. Avant Meats The market for fish maw is contributing to overfishing of endangered species.

Australia’s Vow is working to develop lab-grown kangaroo and is also experimenting with finding animals that are tasty, but not yet widely eaten by humans. In Russia, ArtMeat is culturing horse meat using horse and sturgeon cells, and is hoping to achieve commercial sales by 2023.