They say you are what you eat and now that may literally be the case with the introduction of The Ouroborous Steak, a steak made from human cells.
According to Metro, the human steaks are grown using a DIY kit where users swab cells from the inside of their cheek and use mushroom mycelium scaffolds to produce them. Then, after three-months of growing in a warm place, the steaks are fully grown and ready to be consumed.
As noted by the outlet, the Ouroborous Steak is named after the Egyptian symbol of a snake eating its own tail. And, while some would consider this to be a form of cannibalism, industrial designer Grace Knight, who has helped with the design claims it is not.
“People think that eating oneself is cannibalism, which technically this is not,” Knight told Deezen.
For those wondering how the idea of a human steak even came about, reportedly, its in response to the controversial cultured meat industry and a liquid known as fetal bovine serum — which comes from fetuses after their pregnant mothers are slaughtered for the meat industry and can cost more than $900, according to Tech Times.
The serum is even needed for lab-grown meat, which doesn’t exactly make that an animal-friendly alternative from the standard.
“Fetal bovine serum costs significant amounts of money and the lives of animals,” said Andrew Pelling, a scientist and the designer of the Ouroboros Steak, in an interview with Dezeen.