Marketplace All-in-One From "How We Survive": The Uncanny Valley of Meat
Oct 27, 2025
Join culinary expert Francis Lam, host of The Splendid Table, and Uma Valeti, founder of Upside Foods, as they dive into the future of cultivated meat. Discover the fascinating nuances of 3D food printing and the uncanny valley concept in meat alternatives. Lam taste-tests Upside's cultivated chicken, debating whether it feels familiar or just a bit off. Valeti shares insights on how their chicken is engineered for flavor and texture. Plus, practical tips from Lam on making climate-friendly proteins delicious!
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3D Printing Tackles The Uncanny Valley
- Hod Lipson and students built a 3D food printer that layers protein, fat, and starch to mimic meat textures.
- They used texture-mapping machines to measure steak toughness and sold that tech to Redefine Meat for commercial 3D-printed steaks.
The Uncanny Valley Explains Fake-Meat Rejection
- Jonathan Blutinger framed fake meat challenges as an "uncanny valley" where near-real imitations trigger unease.
- 3D printing precision may help products cross that valley by reproducing marbling and mouthfeel more accurately.
Live Taste Test Of Cultivated Chicken
- Amy Scott and Francis Lam cooked and tasted Upside Foods' cultivated barbecue chicken as a slider test.
- Francis noted the product looked and largely tasted like chicken but had a slightly spongy, denser texture and soy-like flavor notes.
