I have been sharing dinner with some friends for a very long time.  But, since last March, it’s been over Zoom.  And, they always remark that my steaks look scrawny.  (It’s what my kosher steaks have always looked like since I was a tyke.)  Which brings up the discussion of a whole new kind of rib-eye steak.

About two years ago I introduced y’all to  Aleph Farms.  (Cargill, the largest private company in the world, is an investor in this Israeli outfit.)   I was discussing it in relationship to how its products might be classified.  Since it was starting with cultured cells (cow cells, of course) and growing a piece of meat- more than a few rabbis weren’t sure how they could verify it’s kashrut- it’s compliance with the kosher rules. Back when the development was in its infancy, the beef it produced was pretty thin- akin to the kind of sliced meat you’d get on a sandwich.

Well, this is becoming far less of a theoretical concept now.  Aleph just announced they produced a 3D printed rib-eye steak.  (OK.  It will still be theoretical.  Because it’s not just the rabbis that need to develop protocols; neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the US Department of Agriculture has  determined what regulatory hurdles Aleph will have to navigate to bring its products to market. And, just like the rabbis, it’s not clear this will be considered to be meat.  [Right now, only Singapore has developed a regulatory process for “cultivated” meat.] )

(This may be why Aleph has partnered with Mitsubishi to produce beef for the Japanese markets.)

Now, remember- Aleph is culturing animal cells.  This is not like Beyond Beef or Impossible, which creates wonderful food from plant cells. Moreover, since this is a rib-eye steak, muscle tissue has to be grown as well.

To develop this product, Aleph relied on the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology; consider this to be MIT (but instead of in Cambridge, MA, it’s in Haifa, Israel) to complete the development. Dr. Shulamit Levenberg of Technion also serves as the science advisor to Aleph.

The living animal cells are combined with plant-based matrix that achieves the texture and qualities of a real steak.   There even is a pseudo-vascular system, to enable the nutrients’ travel to the thicker tissues.  That step is critical to ensure that the cells grow into what we consider to be steak- with varying degrees of thickness, texture changes, etc.

Aleph swears it’s equivalent to real steak- replete with the sensory quality, texture, flavor- even the fatty marbling of a real rib-eye.  Actually, it may be have to be better- since there is no camouflage- no bun, no sauce, nothing but the steak staring at my starving eyes in the center of the plate.

Aleph avers that just like the feed of the cow sets the taste and texture of the beef, so it does for the cultivated meat.  And, the meat can be tailored to the specific tastes of local markets- more or less tender as would be the desires of the local populace.

One big issue Aleph must address right now is the price.  I’m guessing this rib-eye would be expensive even for Jewish folks, who are used to paying twice or three times the price of non-kosher food.  (Yeah.  It’s running about 10X that price for these first prototypes.)  Aleph expects it to take them another 5 years of development to make this rib-eye cost-competitive.

And, you can bet that Aleph will have plenty of competition.  Because Cargill, Tyson’s, Memphis Meat, and Mosa Meat- plus some 60 other firms are hoping to bring us cultivated alternatives to meat, eggs, and dairy items.

But, there are big plusses too.  Like the fact that since these are lab-grown, there is no need to add antibiotics to the meat. And, being grown in a sterile atmosphere means the meat will be pathogen-free, so it’s shelf-life could be substantial.  Not to mention no cows belching methane gas as they grow.

And, the cattle industry isn’t waiting for these guys to take over.  Nope, the North American Meat Institute has been lobbying that the products be labeled as cultivated meat, to decrease their competitive advantage.

Let the cow wars begin.

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