 Synthetic meat. Synthetic meat is made from real animal muscle cells grown by artificial means in the laboratory. Because meat is animal muscle, we can take a small sample of these muscle cells from a living animal and then using a technique called tissue culture grow enough cells together to make a cut of meat. This meat can then be packaged, sold and eaten, just like normal meat, with the ethical advantage that no animal was harmed in its production. We asked people, what excites you? What frightens you? And how will it change the way you live? These were some of their responses. Eating is more than just flavour and texture, it's the whole experience. How can technology simulate that? That's a very good question, especially if you've ever tried textured soy proteins as a meat substitute. But while meat growing in the laboratory is synthetic in its production, it is not artificial, it is still made from exactly the same sorts of muscle cells found in the animal. However, whether it tastes exactly the same or provides the same culinary experience is up to the person eating it. People are already suspicious of the marketing industry telling us what we should eat. How would synthetic meat be labelled and promoted? Synthetic meat may well be marketed as the ethical choice. It can be produced without having to kill animals for their meat and potentially has a whole range of additional advantages. Synthetic meat can be grown and its nutritional content optimised to make it healthier by design. It may also help reduce the current carbon footprint associated with meat production. And if synthetic meat really lives up to this potential, it would be likely that labelling and promotion would reflect these benefits. What chance does synthetic meat have of being a successful alternative? While synthetic meat exists, it's not possible to produce commercial amounts of it at the moment due to cost. If it were cost competitive and provided the ethical and nutritional advantages it promises, then it probably could be successful. What do you think? Would you eat it?