--- title: "Journalist Eats Lab-Grown Chicken, Gets “Weirdly Gassy”" description: "John Wenz ate chicken meat grown in a lab, courageously admitting that it gave him gas. But it does taste like chicken, at least." date: "2023-01-27" modified: "2023-01-27" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/journalist-lab-grown-chicken-gas" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "cultured meat" - "food" - "lab grown meat" - "the digest" --- # Journalist Eats Lab-Grown Chicken, Gets “Weirdly Gassy” ![John Wenz ate chicken meat grown in a lab, courageously admitting that it gave him gas. But it does taste like chicken, at least.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Gas Leak There's endless buzz over lab-grown meat — or "cultivated" or "cultured" or "synthetic" meat, depending on the specific marketing strategy — which is made from real animal cells grown in bioreactors. Aside from some lingering issues surrounding its viability and price, a key question on everyone's minds is: how does it taste? Now, maybe we can add another one: how does it digest? Luckily, John Wenz at *Inverse* decided to take one for the team and [find out for himself](). Bravely, Wenz admits that he was "weirdly gassy the rest of the day." That can't be definitively attributed to the ersatz chicken, but it is suspicious. "While this isn't abnormal for me, and it's impossible to draw a direct connection between my bloating and the lab-grown meat without further tastings," he wrote, "I had to mention it." Pressed for further details by *Futurism*, Wenz clarified that "it wasn't like, crampy or painful." But "my digestive system was like 'hmm what's this, I may not like it,'" he added. ## Flatus Tire The lab-grown chicken was produced by UPSIDE Foods. You may recognize the name — last November, the pretend poultry peddlers [received its first go-ahead]() from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), bringing it closer to full approval for consumer consumption. Note the *closer*, as it's not quite ready to hit the shelves yet. But in the meantime, we can turn to Wenz's tasting as food for thought. His verdict? "It was… decent," he [wrote](), calling the texture "close but slightly uncanny." He also recorded himself eating the chicken with the company's chief food scientist, Daniel Davila. "Yeah, that's getting there," he began. After a brief struggle to get a morsel of meat and a piece of plum tomato on the fork, Wenz remarks that "some of the chew is just about there" and that it's "almost between a chicken and a fish." ## Long and Windy Road While the tech's getting closer, there might still be a ways to go. For one, the product still needs approval from the US Department of Agriculture. And even then, it would only be for this specific cultivated chicken product — not an approval for lab meat in general. Uncertainty remains around the long term health effects of consuming lab grown meat, too. And there's also the question of price. As of now, it will be way too expensive for ordinary folks to afford, and in the case of UPSIDE's product in particular, is planned to solely be debuted through select, boutique restaurants and prepared by a Michelin star chef. So, it's not exactly McDonald's bound quite yet. **Read more:** *[Lab-grown chicken could hit store shelves soon — here's how it tastes]()* \[*Inverse*\] **More on food:** *[Popular Dark Chocolate Brands Contain Dangerous Heavy Metals, Report Finds]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()