A meaty problem: How to make cell-grown protein taste like steak, chicken, and seafood RJ Mackenzie | September 16, 2026

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2026/09/16/a-meaty-problem-how-to-make-cell-grown-protein-taste-like-steak-chicken-and-seafood/ Lab-grown, or cultivated, meat options are already a reality in select restaurants worldwide. For example, the omakase restaurant Robin in San Francisco sells cultivated salmon as part of a tasting menu. But while cultivated meats like Robin’s cellular salmon may bypass the cruelties of intensive farming, they also still struggle to recreate the texture and consistency of more traditional meat options. That’s because cultivated meat is often made from adult stem cells, which can only differentiate into a certain tissue type and lose this ability over time. Scientists then stitch together these tissues, but it’s difficult to recreate the complex mix of fat and muscle that makes up, for example, a marbled wagyu steak.