A Magic Solution: Chicken Meat without Slaughter

Dutch tissue engineer Mark Post made international news last year when he cooked up a beef burger made from lab-cultured cow muscle tissue.

The Modern Agriculture Foundation (MAF) in Ramat Gan, Israel, joined the quest to mass-produce cultured meat, launching the only such project to concentrate on chicken — the second most popular meat on the planet, next to pork.

The all-volunteer nonprofit organization was founded in March of 2014, and by January launched the world’s first feasibility study to determine the cost, timetable and resources to create commercial cultured chicken breast. That privately funded study, headed by Prof. Amit Gefen at Tel Aviv University, is to be completed by January 2016.

Compared to current meat-producing industry, cultured meat production would require between 7 and 45 percent less energy, 90% less fresh water and 99% less land, and would result in 80 to 90% less greenhouse gases emitted to the atmosphere.

Cultured meat is not “Frankenfood” and involves no genetic engineering. It is not a meat substitute, but 100% meat.

If the process becomes economically feasible, the ecological and ethical considerations would make cultured meat irresistible.

Source: Israel21c

Where Do You Find World's Best Vegetarian Food?

Tel Aviv has been crowned home to the best vegetarian food in the world by Condé Nast Traveler, a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine that has won twenty-five National Magazine Awards.

Israel's biggest city owes this honor to the abundance of raw produce and to its variety of gastronomic influences—Russian, Polish, Arabic, Moroccan, Bulgarian, Iraqi, and others.

No-meat, no-dairy restaurants are essentially kosher by default, appealing to the young, fresh-food-focused Israeli population.

The following vegan and vegetarian-friendly options (for those dining with dedicated carnivores), were noted among Tel Aviv's finest:

VEGAN

• Café Anastasia, the first all-vegan cafe in the country with a fantastic sunny balcony. Serving breakfast, appetizers, entrees, desserts and more. You can also find gluten-free and raw dishes on the menu.

• Cafe Kaymak, a vegan coffee shop that specializes in ethnic cooking. At first glance, it may not seem promising, but it's a gem. Over the years, this small coffee shop became a popular spot among the young and trendy of Tel Aviv. With all produce and ingredients coming from the nearby Levinsky Market, Cafe Kaymak is well known for its breakfast dishes and its Friday mornings specials. On Saturday nights, the coffee shop hosts live music sets.

• Nanuchka Restaurant-Bar, quite possibly the first vegan Georgian restaurant in the world. Any fear that a menu devoted to vegan Georgian food would be limited is put to rest at one of the most well-liked places in Tel Aviv. Nanuchka's original menu makes carnivores forget about meat.

• Tenat, Ethiopian vegan gluten-free restaurant serving traditional dishes. Its lovely atmosphere is created by the ethnic decor and exotic Ethiopian music and jazz.

VEGETARIAN-FRIENDLY

• Bindella, a posh Italian restaurant located in an upscale neighborhood of Bauhaus landmarks near central Rothschild Boulevard. It is the first restaurant in the history of Bindella that opens its doors beyond the borders of Switzerland, where Bindella runs 40 restaurants.

• Dallal, a sprawling restaurant sitting next to the Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater is a quiet refuge, complete with leafy inner courtyard. It connects the past, present and future and celebrates the richness of cloture architecture and culinary development accumulated in Israel throughout history.

• The Herbert Samuel Restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton Herzliya, one of the most elegant kosher restaurants in Herzliya. It inspires diners with spectacular views of the marina and Mediterranean Sea, along with masterfully prepared gourmet cuisine and a rich selection of boutique wines.

Source: Condé Nast Traveler