This week, U.S. regulators gave the green light to two companies creating “lab-grown chicken” — meat made from animal cells without slaughtering a chicken.
While it may be a while before you see it on grocery store shelves, two restaurants will be the first to serve it — and one of them will be in D.C.
Chef Jose Andrés promised in a statement that one of his D.C.-area restaurants will add it to the menu, but he hasn’t said which one, yet.
In Dupont Circle, WTOP asked people if they would be willing to try it out. The results of the not-so-scientific study were mixed, to say the least.
Gloria Akol of Alexandria, Virginia, said while the intentions are good, she would be uncomfortable eating the meat. “Not everything that can be made should be made,” Akol said.
“I will give it a try because it is not actually slaughtered,” Billy Griffin of D.C. said.
“It’s new from a lab, so I would try new things because I haven’t tried it before,” said 8-year-old Journey from Alexandria.
Morgan Curry, 11, of Virginia said she’s not interested in trying the lab grown chicken. “No, it kind of sounds nasty,” Curry said.
Michael High of D.C. at first said he would try it, but then expressed concerns about what might not be known yet about the product. “It is easy to say to the public we’ll have something that mimics chicken or ‘blah blah blah’, but what about the long term,” High said.
Right now, there are two companies that are making the product and they both said this isn’t a meat substitute but real meat. Both companies also appear to expect hesitation from some when it comes to trying this new type of chicken.
