It is a sign of the times that Google even has a burger. Considering the way in which the digital world is exploding, nothing should surprise us, not even the synthetic world producing a burger in the laboratory, at a phenomenal cost equivalent to `2 crore borne in the last mile by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Brin’s reasoning may sound good for the green lobby, but perhaps not for natural food loyalists who believe in going right back to basics to produce the real tasty, healthy eating of our forefathers. Conventional meat production is bad for global warming as methane is produced, and a projected 80 per cent saving in water use alone could justify lab-cultured meat, the argument goes.
What does the Google burger taste like? Privileged tasters felt that while it smelled like beef and tasted like beef, it wasn’t quite the real thing: it wasn’t juicy enough. Dieticians say a cautious “aye” as they think it has the potential to be healthier than the real stuff, particularly if saturated fats give way to nutritional omega-3 fats.
Michelin chefs like Gordon Ramsay may frown on such a venture and diners may have a thing or two against eating stem cells from a cow’s shoulder for dinner. But advancements notwithstanding, even “vegetarian meat” is just a fad today. But give the world enough time to smash its resources to pulp, and maybe the Google Burger will be choice fare at the nearest McDonald’s, hopefully in the very distant future!