Sydney lab-grown meat startup Vow launches in Hong Kong with ‘Forged Gras’

Sydney cultivated meat startup Vow, best known for its “woolly mammoth meatball“, has launched in a second Asian city, with a new product resembling the French delicacy foie gras.

The release of Forged Gras as a cell-based meat tackles one of the key ethical issues in foie gras production, gavage, the force-feeding of ducks and geese to create the fatty, swollen liver that is foie gras. Its production is banned in many countries, including Australia.

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 before the product rolls out in several restaurants in the first commercial sale of cultivated meat in the Chinese city.

Aside from mimicking the qualities prized in the rich, buttery and extravagant gourmet treat, the other big difference with Forged Gras is that it’s made using Japanese quail cells, and involves no live animals.

Earlier this year, Vow launch a similar liver product made from cultured quail protein, Forged Parfait, in Singapore

It’s now 2 years since Vow raised $73.5 million in a Series A led by Blackbird and Prosperity 7 Ventures.

The Western Sydney-based startup began producing lab-grown meat from pork and kangaroo cells in 2019. It’s since produced flesh from a range of animal cells, including rabbit, mice, goat and water buffalo, and even alpaca. It’s explored putting more than 50 species of lab-grown meat on plates, including fish, and also counts Square Peg, as well as Grok, the family fund of Mike Cannon-Brookes, among its investors, having raised $7.7 million in a seed round in early 2021.

Founder George Peppou says Vow seeks to innovate, not imitate, and the business has focused on high-end products with a culinary bent rather than mass-produced foods, like many startups in the alt protein space.  Forged is Vow’s premium brand.

The five-year-old startup has certainly got the jump on its more lavishly funded international competitors, such as Meatable, in terms of getting product to market and generating revenue.

It’s nearly a year since Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) decided that Vow’s cultivated quail was safe to eat, but the regular has not yet approved its sale locally, so if you’re keen to taste what all the fuss is about, a trip to Singapore or Hong Kong is on the cards.