Chef Mark Peel prepared two platters each of steaks and hamburgers at his Los Angeles restaurant, Campanile. The medium-rare steaks and perfectly cooked burgers were served without adornment, which makes it sound as though this dinner could have been for a die-hard Atkins fan, when in fact it was a taste test. Six diners, including radio host Evan Kleiman, Gregory Jaffe from the CSPI and USC sociologist Barry Glassner and his wife, had come to the dinner party to experience a side-by-side taste test of conventionally bred and cloned beef.
The meat was all provided by Collins Cattle ranch in Frederick, Oklahoma and was nearly identical in every way, same look, same cuts. The taste of both the hamburger meat and the porterhouse was identical, as well. Along with the reassurances of animal geneticist Alison Van Eenennaam, from UC Davis, that the meat was entirely safe to eat, the diners seemed satisfied that cloned meat was not necessarily a bad idea when it came to flavor. Even so, that won't be enough to sway public opinion in favor of cloned meat by the time it (probably) hits the market later this year.
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