Cultured Meat Adobe Stock 558281546 64a83f175f072

What’s Cultured Chicken Taste Like? A Reporter Sampled It

July 7, 2023

Associated Press reporter sampled a sauteed cultivated chicken breast at Upside Foods’ facility.

We’ve given a lot of virtual ink to the subject of cultured meats … but what does it really taste like?

Shortly after the USDA gave final approval June 21 for the sale of cultured chicken to both Upside Foods and Good Meat, an Associated Press reporter was invited to taste the product at Upside Foods’ manufacturing plant in Emeryville, Calif.

There, chef Jess Weaver sauteed a cultivated chicken breast in a white wine butter sauce with tomatoes, capers and green onions.

The short answer: It tastes like chicken – so says Jonel Aleccia, the reporter, who also calls herself “a lifelong meat eater.” “The longer answer … is more nuanced,” she writes. To read her entire AP account of the experience, click here.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.