The strange future of lab-grown meat involves quail, crocodile, and woolly mammoth

Australian biotech startup Vow has created the first cell-meat factory and is focusing on ‘weird meat’ to achieve viable scale.

The quail parfait glistens on my plate, smeared across a disc of fried heirloom masa. At first glance, it looks like the kind of fine-dining fare you’ll find at many high-end restaurants: a rich, rosy paste topped with pickled pepper, an edible flower, and a dusting of cotija. But its conventional presentation masks a deeper truth. This meal is unorthodox, even radical. In some ways, it’s unlike anything the world has ever seen.