Chemistry is ... New Food Culture

The Berlin punk band Die Ärzte sang in 1988: "I eat flowers - because I feel sorry for animals, rather acacias than a thick, fat ham". The then ironically meant song could take on a new meaning 30 years later. The rapidly growing hunger of the world's population is alarming for the animals as well as for the environment and climate, and more and more people are reducing their meat consumption and resorting to alternatives.

There are now products made from plant proteins that almost taste and smell like meat and look like meat. The US start-up Memphis Meats is even working on obtaining meat from animal stem cells; the meat from the laboratory is hardly distinguishable from conventionally produced meat. In the summer of 2017, MemphisMeats received millions in investments from the agricultural company Cargill and the billionaires Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Branson believes that in 30 years humanity will not kill animals to eat them.