Science's latest lab food: Fake meat tastes, feels like chicken

Fake meat? Vegetarian chicken? Scientists from the University of Missouri
are touting the development of a new food product that closely mimics
the subtle texture and flavor of chicken. Here, a photo shows actual chicken
meat. Photo: CC-micsten

Fake meat? Vegetarian chicken? Scientists from the University of Missouri are touting the development of a new food product that closely mimics the subtle texture and flavor of chicken.

John Cloud has an excellent article on the topic for Time magazine. According to the article, after more than a decade of effort, the team has developed:

"The first soy product that not only can be flavored to taste like chicken but also breaks apart in your mouth the way chicken does: not too soft, not too hard, but with that ineffable chew of real flesh. When you pull apart the Missouri invention, it disjoins the way chicken does, with a few random strands of 'meat' hanging loosely."

The article describes a process that involves adding water to a dry mixture of soy-protein powder and wheat flour, and loading the mixture into an industrial extruder, which is basically a huge industrial food processor. As the mixture, which initially resembles cake batter, folds through the extruder and is heated to an exact 346°F (175°C), the batter stiffens and develops intricate striations that strongly mimic chicken.

Hsieh and Huff say that a number of years went into getting the temperature right, and more years into discovering a way to quickly cool the resulting soy cake, before it could melt. The resulting food product can be flavored and cooked like chicken.

Still, don't expect to see McDonald's offering fake meat chicken McNuggets or other products any time soon. It will be a while before the product makes its way to consumers. The University still needs to license the technology, and manufacturers will need to develop new products. Stay tuned to see if the result is boon or bane for the numerous vegetarians in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

See related video on Time.com.