Ethical Human Meat / Clinical Trial / RCA Exhibition / 2015

  • Sebastian Koseda
In 2015 I initiated the Ethical Human Meat Project, an ethical clinical trial, attempting to solve world hunger issues with lab grown human meat.
The Ethical Human Meat project was intended to raise questions regarding recent developments in culinary science and has been described as ‘a highly controversial project addressing the ethics of stem cell research, cannibalism and the narcissistic limits of consumption.’
The objective of this project was to develop lab-grown burgers made from the cells of 40 human subjects. Once grown, these human burgers would then be fed back to the subjects.
I teamed up with a group of scientists in London (who chose to remain anonymous for various reasons) in order to develop the lab-grown human meat.
A website was launched in search of 15–30 human subjects to take part in the clinical trial which offered £100 per day. The public’s response was positive and the maximum capacity of applicants was met.
The subjects were invited to come to the lab and have their cells extracted. The cell samples were then developed in petri dishes over a course of 6 weeks, after this time the subjects were invited back to taste their own artificially grown muscle tissue.
The meat is classified as vegetarian as no animals were harmed in the process. There is no blood or fat to connect the tissue but on a cellular level, the meat strips are indistinguishable from human flesh.
The subjects were asked to give feedback regarding the taste, ethics and future of the Ethical Human Meat. A common comment is that the final product tastes similar to bacon.
Based on the feedback received, in-vitro meat has potential to be the future antidote to world hunger and sustainability issues. The world could be saved by, what could be considered, self-cannibalism if marketed properly.

Exhibited at the Henry Moore Gallery
Featured in Elephant Magazine Copyright Issue
Featured on It’s Nice That