We were tickled by two very different but linked stories that appeared in the papers over the weekend. The Sunday Times has a story about scientists successfully growing pork meat from pig cells in a laboratory. ‘Grown in a lab’ is not the most appetising way to sell a piece of meat but the scientists behind the project suggest that it could be a much more environmentally friendly way to produce meat than traditional farming. However green test tube pork may be, for me, there is something innately icky about the idea of synthetic meat although it might be marginally preferable to sitting down to a plate of Quorn.
On a similar note, The Telegraph has a story about an aquaculture firm that has managed to produce non-poisonous puffer fish. Fugu, or puffer fish, are incredibly toxic but their flesh is considered a delicacy in Japan. Chefs have to train for three years before they are considered skilled enough to remove the poisonous organs and prep the fish for the table.
Remarkably, the new, non-lethal farmed fish have not been a swift hit with all fugu fans. The paper reports a fugu chef who says ‘It’s obviously more than a little exciting to go to a restaurant knowing that it might be the last meal that you ever eat.’
That’s the sort of thought that would stifle my appetite rather than stimulate it. If anyone was to be pleased by the new development then you might think it would be the fugu chefs. Tradition dictates that they commit suicide if the poison one of their customers.