Loving Warren Ellis writing style, here in his Wired column : On cannibalism, very funny (in my opinion)
Now, many people are working towards the goal of what is variously called “cultured meat”, “in vitro meat” and “artificial meat”. Meat that has never been part of an animal (see wired 08.09). A collagen matrix is impregnated with cultured muscle cells, thousands of them, all derived from a single muscle cell extracted from an animal. The meat then grows over the matrix, in sheets or in blobs. There will be scenarios where the meat is “exercised” to gain the correct texture, either mechanically or through electronic stimulus. When all’s done, you have meat that’s never been cut off a living thing and has no pain or death in its production footprint. It works with fish, too -- artificial fillets have been grown from gold fish cells. Apparently it’s hideous wet muck that tastes like the first time you ate mushy peas out of a dead tramp’s arse. But still, it’s early days.