Foie gras may be one of the most embattled ingredients in the world—just check out the years-long saga of trying to ban it in New York City. But one company has now brought a new version of the delicacy to market. Cultivated-meat company Vow debuted a foie gras dupe dubbed Forged Gras on Tuesday.
Rather than a one-to-one version of foie gras—the fatty liver of ducks and geese—the new creation is sourced from Japanese quail, giving it a subtle gamey flavor. It retains the fatty-liver texture of traditional foie gras, but because it’s created in a lab , it doesn’t require any of the animal intervention that some push back against. “At Vow, we’re paving a new path for food by using innovative technology to address real challenges around foods that people want but can’t access,” George Peppou, the company’s CEO, said in a statement.
“The launch of Forged Gras continues our mission to bring scarce or never-before-seen foods to millions but does so in a way that seeks to innovate, not imitate. By fostering culinary imagination, we aim to create something entirely new, unconstrained by the tradition of even the oldest delicacies.” According to a survey that Vow carried out with 1,000 American meat eaters, only 8 percent had tried foie gras before, with the ingredient’s lack of availability one of the main barriers to entry.
Of those who hadn’t tasted foie gras, just 5 percent said it was because of ethical concerns. As such, Vow is aiming to create a prod.
