Cultured meat company Vow has unveiled an ethical alternative to foie gras that's now available at selected restaurants in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Vow, a cultured meat company, has released a cultured meat that mimics foie gras, offering an ethical take on the controversial delicacy.

The company's first "flavours" – Forged Parfait and Forged Gras – are now available exclusively at selected restaurants across Singapore and Hong Kong.

As reported by StartUp Daily, Forged Gras was launched in Hong Kong last week with New York chef Masa Takayama from Mahattan’s Bar Masa flown in to showcase its potential.  

Now, Vow will debut the foie gras – sold under its Forged brand – at The Aubrey, an izakaya at the Mandarin Oriental, reveals co-founder and CEO George Peppou. “The Aubrey’s Japanese izakaya-style setting provides the perfect backdrop for showcasing our cultured Japanese quail products,” he tells Green Queen.

“Forged Parfait will feature in a dish exclusive to Hong Kong, served within smoke and topped with citric, yuzu and chives alongside brioche and pickles,” he says. The dish is priced at HK$388 ($49.85), with the option to add caviar for another HK$198 ($25.45).

For the launch month, a limited-edition cocktail will also be available to diners, costing HK$170 ($21.85). “Crafted by Devender Sehgal, the cocktail – titled ‘Senses’ – is a new take on an old fashioned, fat-washed with the Forged Gras to deliver a deep, rich flavour, complemented with herbal notes and a touch of nuttiness,” explains Peppou.

How is Forged Gras made? The cultured meat is grown in a Sydney lab from Japanese quail cells. Rather than replicating traditional foie gras - made from duck or goose liver - the product offers a subtle gamey flavour while maintaining the characteristic fatty texture.

“At Vow, we’re paving a new path for food by using innovative technology to address real challenges around foods that people want but can’t access,” George Peppou, the company’s CEO, says in a statement.

“The launch of Forged Gras continues our mission to bring scarce or never-before-seen foods to millions but does so in a way that seeks to innovate, not imitate. By fostering culinary imagination, we aim to create something entirely new, unconstrained by the tradition of even the oldest delicacies.”

Founded in 2019, Vow specialises in creating unique cultured meats rather than imitating existing products. The company has previously experimented with kangaroo, crocodile, and water buffalo meat, and gained attention in 2023 for creating a woolly mammoth meatball using DNA from lamb, mammoth and African elephant.

A survey of 1,000 American meat eaters revealed only 8% had tried foie gras, with availability rather than ethical concerns being the main barrier. The company aims to make scarce delicacies more accessible while addressing animal welfare concerns.

by Olivia Palamountain | GLOBETRENDER