‘Would You Like Flies with That?’
Japanese scientist creates “meat” from … WHAT?
Professor Mitsuyuki Ikeda and his “reconstituted” meat
A Japanese scientist has answered the call of nature for a meat substitute that doesn’t harm animals, can feed billions of humans, and doesn’t pour methane gas from cattle emissions into the atmosphere.
In coming up with his new recipe, Professor Mitsuyuki Ikeda has developed a “burger” made from soy, steak sauce essence, and protein extracted from sewage that contains human feces.
The project began when Tokyo Sewage approached the scientist because of an overabundance of sewage mud. They asked him to explore the possible uses of the sewage, and Ikeda found that the mud contained a great deal of protein because of all the bacteria.
Ikeda’s solution was to produce artificial meat by extracting lipids and protein from the sewage mud, mixing these lipids with a reaction enhancer, and putting the whole thing in an “exploder” to combine it. The steak sauce and soy sauce add saltiness and a dash of umami to the artificial meat.
Ikeda notes that the “burgers” are low in fat and could be a solution to the growing world food crisis. And because they don’t rely on livestock, they won’t raise carbon emissions or waste.
They may not raise appetites, either!
P.S. All credit to Bill Maher for coining the headline of this story on his show Real Time with Bill Maher, thus:
“All I know is, next time I go to the Tokyo McDonalds, I’m not going to order the Crappy Meal. And you know you’ve ordered the ****-burger when the girl behind the counter says, ‘Would you like flies with that?’”
And here’s an explanation of the science of the sewage-burger by the scientist himself.
What do you say? Would you eat one of Professor Ikeda’s new burgers? Let us know in a comment below or on Facebook.