The “Carnivore King” tries cultivated chicken

chicken

Francis Mallmann, the celebrated chef known for open-fire cooking, says cultivated meat has a bright future.

Suffice to say Francis Mallmann is not going to take up veganism any time soon.

In fact, the world-renowned Argentine chef, famous for his outdoor, open-fire, meat-heavy cooking, is known as the “Carnivore King.”

But Mallmann also knows the way we eat meat, the way we’re razing our forests to make room to feed more animals, cannot go on forever.

“The world has to change,” Mallmann said. “The bad customs and the bad use of growing animals we’ve had in the last centuries have taken us to a horrible place.”

And so Mallmann is here, at Keng Eng Kee, a hawker stall in Singapore, in May to taste the world’s first cultivated chicken satay.

What would the Carnivore King think of this meat? Would GOOD Meat pass muster with the king of meat?

“It is delicious,” Mallmann said, simply, after taking a bite of chicken off the satay skewer.

Mallmann, who owns nine restaurants and has authored several best-selling books, including “Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way” and “Mallmann on Fire,” joins the list of growing internationally acclaimed chefs who are turning to GOOD Meat as the future of meat. Jose Andrés, the chef and humanitarian who runs World Central Kitchen, announced in December he was joining the GOOD Meat Board of Directors and pledged to serve the slaughter-free meat at one of his restaurants when it receives regulatory approval in the United States.

“I think this little treasure has a big future.”

future.”

— Francis Mallmann

Mallmann

As Mallmann holds one of the world’s first cultivated chicken satay skewers up to his eye, inspecting it like a scientist would a microscope slide, he says his philosophy on cooking isn’t changing.

“I love meat. I eat meat. I live out of meat,” he said.

But, the chef said, it’s just not sustainable anymore.