Wild Type salmon | Lab-grown fish
Wild Type tasting menu - Sliced salmon on a chip
Chefs of the Wild Type salmon tasting - credits Hattie Watson
Spicy Salmon sushi rolls & menu - Credit Hattie Watson
Wild Type tasting menu - photo by Rachelle Hacmac, Rile Communications
Bisque - credit Rachelle Hacmac - Rile Co.
Tartare - credit Rachelle Hacmac - Rile Co.
Wild Type tasting menu - photo by Rachelle Hacmac, Rile Communications 
Ceviche - credit Rachelle Hacmac, Rile Co.
Start-up Wild Type hosted a private taste event last month in Portland (Oregon) at which chefs made the world’s first sushi, created with cellular agriculture technology. They served the first pound of lab-grown fish thus, guests were treated to a variety of cell-based salmon dishes.
San Francisco start-up Wild Type began its research and development for the lab-grown fish in 2018 and this tasting event marks the first large-scale test of their innovative new salmon product. The mission of Wild Type is to make the most delicious and sustainable fish and meat on the planet, that means creating a product that not only tastes great, but one that we can all feel good about eating. They believe this is the most impactful way to address the pressing challenges of our generation; climate change, food security, and health. Salmon was a natural place to begin given the challenges the fish is facing in the wild.
What has been served at this taste event of lab-grown fish?
As it stands, the start-up’s lab-grown salmon can only be served raw, as it loses its textural qualities when heat is applied. The company hopes to develop a new version of the product that can be cooked at higher temperatures in the coming months. Besides this challenge Wild Type can only produce relatively small pieces of lab-grown fish or meat due to regulations. Over the past year, they’ve developed prototypes, tasted them, and listened carefully to the input of their partner chefs.
On June 2nd, they hosted a dinner at Maylin Chavez’s Olympia Oyster Bar in Portland. Joining Maylin in the kitchen was Rose Ha, one of the creative minds behind Baia, a new restaurant opening soon in San Francisco. Gusto’s Kyle Christy, who was formerly executive chef at Dame, also contributed his impressive talents to the night’s menu. Guests at the event were treated to a variety of cell-based salmon dishes, including ceviche verde (avocado, cucumber, katsuobushi, ginger and cilantro), salmon tartare, Hawaiian poke and other favorites like spicy salmon sushi rolls (cucumber, avocado, fresh sprouts and hand-made pickled ginger).
The objective of the dinner was to give their guests a taste of a sustainable seafood future. At the same time they also wanted to demonstrate the versatility of Wild Type salmon with a variety of culinary traditions. For example Gusto’s chef Kyle tested the reaction of the salmon to acid and served a classic tartare preparation on a rice crisp. As they expected, Wild Type’s coho salmon brightened in color after some time in Kyle’s signature tartare sauce. The texture also tightened up significantly, as it would in conventionally-harvested salmon.
Wild Type salmon
The lab-grown fish of Wild Type is work-in-progress and will continue to improve in the months ahead. They listened carefully to every bit of constructive feedback offered, from color, to texture, to the initial and after-tastes. Each comment and impression from people outside of Wild Type is considered precious and allows them to continually improve their products. They believe that the creative culinary process should be as open, transparent, and honest as possible.
As said in the headlines of an article at Bloomberg’s: the Beyond Meat of fish is coming.
Website: Wild Type salmon
