Neil Perry serves up dishes grown from cells
Vow, an Australian based innovative food company developing meat products directly from animal cells, today announced the culinary demonstration of their multi-species meat platform, prepared by renowned Australian chefs Neil Perry and Corey Costelloe. This was an impressive demonstration of the company's technical ability and an important milestone on its journey to create meat products more delicious than any conventional animal meat.
Neil Perry, Australia’s most famous chef and founder of the Rockpool restaurant empire, is an advocate of Vow and helped design the dishes for the product demonstration. “The work Vow is doing is awesome. Blending deep technology with the culinary world opens a new creative era in food, and does so in a way that’s sustainable for future generations. I think that’s an incredibly exciting thing to be a part of.”
"Over the last 12 months, Vow has been building something special. Team culture and excellence have been prioritized above all. Finding the best people in both cell and material science, and coupling them with an incredible engineering team has allowed Vow to move faster than typically thought possible. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with each and every Vowzer" said Dr. James Ryall, Vow’s Chief Scientific Officer
Six different animal species were selected from Vow’s diverse cell library and cultivated (grown from cells in a cultivator) for this product demonstration and included kangaroo, pig, lamb, alpaca, rabbit and goat. The dishes (listed below) were designed in creative partnership between Neil Perry and Corey Costelloe, who also cooked and plated the 6 unique dishes.
“Until now the cultured meat industry has been focused on better ways of making the meat we most commonly eat today,” said George Peppou, Co-founder & CEO of Vow. “This milestone demonstrates we can grow the cells of any animal, not just those we can farm, marking a turning point for the cultured meat industry and our food system as a whole. To make food without compromise we must stop looking backward to how our ancestors produced and ate food and instead choose how we will eat in the future.”
“This has been an exciting moment for us, and really shows what we’re capable of technically,” said Tim Noakesmith, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Vow. “We started this
company only 16 months ago and we’ve been able to grow to an insanely awesome team of 16 scientists, engineers and designers here in Australia. Our rapid progress has taken us out of the lab and into one of Australia’s best kitchens and now we’re turning our focus to building a meat prototype that outperforms the sensory experience of any conventional meat we know.”
Vow now turns its attention to building out a world-class food-science and culinary team to develop new products aimed at markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
“We're now hiring a world class team of chefs, food scientists and sensory experts, from around the world, to turn biology breakthroughs into wildly decadent food experiences.” Tim added. “We want to hear from the best in food who want to use their skills to reinvent our food systems for a better future.”
“Vow’s vision is truly breathtaking - creating new meats more delicious and healthier than anything we have eaten before, cultivated directly from cells without harming an animal and with a fraction of the carbon footprint. What they have achieved and demonstrated today is a world record-beating, gold medal achievement in the startup olympics. We are very proud to be a small part of the journey” said Sam Wong, Partner at Blackbird Ventures. Blackbird Ventures is an investor in Vow.
With global demand for meat products growing every year, Vow is rebuilding food from the ground up to be more delicious and more nutritious than the meat we have on the market today. Vow’s approach will reduce the pressures on traditional animal agriculture to meet this global demand, while also benefiting human health, reducing animal suffering and promoting food security.
Vow, 2nd September 2020
