Does Wildtype Lab-Grown Salmon Taste Any Good?

When I read about the first lab-grown fish approved by the FDA for human consumption, I was intrigued. But I figured it would be a while until I could try it, as it was only available at three restaurants, none near me. 

Last month, though, I visited Seattle, where I lived for five years before COVID-19 hit, and found out that renowned chef Renee Erickson had just become the fourth restaurateur to add Wildtype’s cell-cultivated salmon to the menu. I had to try it.

My wife and I were staying with two of the most adventurous people we know, so it was no trouble to hastily organize a happy hour taste test. We ventured to Erickson’s crown jewel, The Walrus and the Carpenter, an oyster bar in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood that just celebrated its 15th anniversary.

What is cell-cultivated salmon, and why are restaurants serving it?

Wildtype, which operates its lab in a former brewery in San Francisco, cultivates fillets from cells isolated from juvenile Pacific salmon. The company calls its first product “sushi-grade salmon saku.” 

It’s technically real salmon meat. If you’re a vegetarian for animal-welfare reasons, you might decide to eat cultivated salmon as it’s not harming any animals. If you’re allergic to finfish, you still shouldn’t eat it.

The cultivated salmon isn’t 100% fish, though. It’s finished “with plant components to create the desired texture and flavor of a traditional salmon fillet,” according to the company’s FAQs. Those plant components include “fats derived from algae, canola, and sunflower seeds, soy (an allergen), potato starch, konjac (a root vegetable), paprika (natural color), carrageenan (an extract from red seaweed), and natural flavors.”

I asked Wildtype why people who may not want to eat traditional salmon should opt for a cultivated version. 

“The many dishes around the world featuring salmon are deeply embedded in traditions, customs, and our shared history as humans,” says Justin Kolbeck, who cofounded Wildtype with Aryé Elfenbein. “It’s really hard to change these.” 

He says that the sushi-grade salmon saku works great as crudo, tartare, smoked, or raw. 

“One of the things people who have given up salmon miss the most is sushi,” he says. That’s why two of the launch restaurants belong to “chefs who provide incredible omakase experiences” — Adam Tortosa of Robin in San Francisco and Yoshi Okai of Austin’s Otoko. 

Okai now serves Wildtype at Hai Sí, his restaurant in Aspen, Colorado, since Texas recently banned the sale of cultivated foods. Kolbeck says Wildtype’s fifth and final launch partner will be announced in the coming weeks, and other interested chefs can request a tasting.

Erickson, a James Beard Award-winning chef, takes her seafood seriously. Her restaurant group is named Sea Creatures, and her email signature includes an all-caps plea, “DON’T BUY FARMED SALMON!!” 

“I want to support something that can hopefully take the stress off of wild salmon and compete with farmed salmon that is currently polluting waters where wild salmon are struggling to survive,” says Erickson. “Not to mention farmed salmon is less tasty, often full of antibiotics, and is very expensive to produce.”

Wildtype was the only salmon on the menu on my visit. However, Erickson still buys limited amounts of sustainable wild salmon species from Duna Fisheries and Drifters Fish, including sockeye, which are returning in great numbers to Bristol Bay, Alaska, en route to spawn. For home cooks, she also recommends Eva’s Wild.

Erickson says the only salmon that she has ditched entirely is wild Chinook, aka king. It’s the dwindling primary food source for the Pacific Northwest’s beleaguered southern resident orcas, including Tahlequah, who has made headlines for carrying her dead newborn calves in a show of grief. 

Gregory Gourdet, the first chef in the country to serve Wildtype, smokes it in-house at Kann, his award-winning Haitian restaurant in Portland, Oregon. He plates the cultivated salmon with seasonal accoutrements such as pickled strawberries and roasted watermelon.

“We serve it not only for its quality, but also to spark conversation about declining global fish populations and the critical moment we face in protecting ocean health,” he says. “I believe Wildtype is the food of the future — an innovation that offers a responsible way to help feed billions of people while easing the pressure on our oceans.”

Trying the cell-cultivated salmon

A few nights prior to our visit, Erickson debuted the Wildtype salmon in a crudo that featured cubes of the saku in addition to honeydew melon and cantaloupe, crispy shallots, and slices of serrano chile. The dish costs $22, around what I’d expect for the same dish with wild salmon.

Erickson says that her team had to be careful not to overpower the saku’s delicate flavor, which is a little more subtle than wild salmon — and they succeeded. We enjoyed the bright, flavorful crudo. The beautiful variety of sensations and flavors helped to mask the notable tell of the lab-grown fish: its texture.

The Wildtype salmon was uniformly squishy. The table next to ours agreed with our assessment, describing its texture as akin to mochi — not inherently bad, though unique from traditional salmon. 

Such uniformity can also read as ultra-processed, like a chicken nugget compared to a chicken thigh. For this reason, I remain skeptical that the saku would be best served as sashimi.

Kolbeck admits that they’re still dialing it in. “Although we’re very proud of Wildtype saku, building fish from the cell up is a real challenge,” he says. 

Feedback from chefs and diners has been encouraging and specific, he says, helping Wildtype improve the salmon as well as other products in the works. “We’re confident that we’ve addressed many of the shortcomings in the product you tried with our upcoming Recipe 2.”

My takeaway

As a food writer passionate about sustainable seafood, I’m curious, yet cautious. Cultivated salmon could have as many pitfalls as wild or farmed salmon, from resource consumption even greater than traditional fisheries to a reliance on unstable cultured cells, concerns uncovered by food-science journal NPJ’s review of current literature. 

I’m not yet convinced that a switch to lab-grown salmon is a better answer than reducing waste when butchering our existing catch or eating other seafood to take the pressure off of prized fish like salmon.

Still, The Walrus and the Carpenter’s Wildtype crudo was a compelling showcase for a brand-new product that seems likely to improve. I can’t help but be intrigued by the possibilities that cultivated salmon brings to the table.