Majority of chefs keen to serve cultivated meat and 75% are willing to pay a premium, research shows

An overwhelming majority of chefs in the US are interested in incorporating cultivated meat into their menus, new data from SuperMeat shows.

Working with Censuswide, the Israeli cultivated meat company surveyed more than 250 chefs working across the industry – from fast-food to fine dining – to gauge their acceptance of the technology.

Some 86% of participants reported being “interested” in serving cultivated meat, while 22% indicated they were “very interested”.

Additionally, more than three quarters (77%) of chefs said they would be willing to pay a premium for cultivated meat such as beef and poultry because of their associated benefits in comparison to traditionally reared meat.

Cultured meat’s lower environmental impact and higher assurance of safety were the most important factors in this decision, according to the survey results. A price markup of between 11% and 15% was the most widely accepted by respondents.

Overall, cultivated chicken is the meat chefs are most keen to try. However this preference changed depending on the chefs’ favoured cuisines.

Cultivated pork was the top choice for fine dining chefs, while those who focussed on Italian cuisine were most interested in cultivated seafood. Chefs specialising in Japanese, French and Indian cuisines were most keen to try cultured exotic meats.

“It is great to see the interest and positivity from the professional culinary community for cultivated meat,” said Ido Savir, Chief Executive Officer of SuperMeat. “This demonstrates that chefs are more than intrigued by cultivated meat, understand the benefits, and are ready to see it served in mainstream dining.”

Restaurants won’t be serving cultivated meat for a while yet – most countries have yet to grant it novel food approval. However most survey respondents said that when it is available, they would be among the earliest adopters of cultured meat.

Some 52% said they would be willing to add cultivated meat to their menu within “one to two months” of it being approved.

Overall, chefs reported being optimistic that cultivated meat would become fully integrated into mainstream hospitality culture relatively soon. Nearly 80% believed significant strides would be made within a year, indicating that there is growing appetite for the commercialisation of lab-grown meat.