Vow is at the cutting edge of cultured meat. Using innovative molecular technology, the world’s first mammoth meatball was created from the DNA of the extinct woolly mammoth.

This scientific masterpiece demonstrates the potential of cultured meat to revolutionize a more sustainable food industry, and that when technological and creative minds meet, it can change our future.

Vow used the technological innovations of cultured meat to a maximum to turn data from the past into a symbol of the future of sustainable food. We made The world aware of cultured meat and turned negative associations into anticipation to try it.

1 million species are at threat of extinction, with food production as a substantial driver. 14.5% of all human-caused global greenhouse gas emissions attribute to meat production. Growing meat consumption also results in inhumane conditions for animals. While ecological and ethical boundaries are met, human evolution rages on. By 2050, we'll need two planets to feed our growing population. At least, without radical and urgent changes.

But alternatives are on the rise. Cultured meat reduces the impact on the environment, is cruelty-free and can be designed to be preferable in both taste and nutritional value.

Yet Singapore still stands alone in having legally approved cultured meat for commercial sale. Combined with the meat industry-lobby, a public perception of inability to change, the discourse has taken shape. With their world-changing innovation, Vow is changing perceptions about cultured meat and provoking a desire to eat differently.

The call for eating less meat has never been louder. Yet the average global meat production has quadrupled since 1961 and is now at an all-time high.

A study in the Dutch market showed the perception of cultured meat is more negative when it comes to health, safety, naturalness and tastiness compared to meat, fish and Plant Based Alternatives. This shows a big gap needs to be filled to increase the willingness for people to convert to cultured meat as part of their diet.

The inability to fulfill the expectations raised by the plant-based alternatives hype (Beyond Meat, Impossible) made skepticism about meat alternatives grow with investors, press and public opinion. Leading press titles refer to cultured meat as the ‘next hope’, but it needs to build its image on the exchange failure and backlash of the unhealthy character of those who went before.

Vow is on a mission to break the status quo of food by challenging the way we think about how we produce and consume food and highlighting how cultured meat is cruelty-free and can reduce environmental impacts.

The woolly mammoth is a symbol of loss and what drastic impact climate change can have. Could this giant become a beacon of hope for the future of food? The mammoth meatball was created by starting from the DNA of the extinct woolly mammoth (over 20 billion cells were used to create the meatball!).

We sparked hope by making the seemingly impossible happen. And turned what is no longer here, into an icon of today: a meatball. A popular dish for people all over the world who make their own version of it. Accessible, simple to make and affordable; exactly what we hope for cultured meat products in the future.

May 16th 2022: Collection of public available genomic data of the Woolly Mammoth.

June - September 2022: Vow and Academic Researchers Ernst Wolvetang & Giovanni Pietrogrande develop a sequence encoding myoglobin and fill in the incomplete mammoth sequence with DNA of its close relative: the African elephant.

October-February 2023: Growing the successful cells

March 2023: Shipping the mammoth meat to Amsterdam.

March 28th 2023: PR-reveal during a Food futurism event where experts and thought leaders shed a light over the innovation and the future of food from their perspective. A day earlier, leading press titles such as The Guardian and CNN were invited for the first interviews. From here on the message was spread globally within a day. Not only hitting the newspapers, but also the social feeds of people.

The mammoth meatball was not created to make people eat Mammoth Meat. It is an iconic innovation to create stopping power, tell a story about the potential of cultured meat and start the discussion about the sustainable and ethical limits of the current meat industry.

Cultured meat does not come from an animal, raised for consumption, but from animal cells that are grown in a lab. The innovation allows us to design meat to be preferable in taste and nutritional value. In contrast to traditional meat, no animals need to be harmed and the impact on sustainability is significantly lower.

When produced with renewable energy, Cultured Meat can reduce the carbon footprint of beef by up to 92%. Additionally Cultured meat could become cost-competitive with real meat when produced on a larger scale.

Making cultured meat part of people’s diet requires us to lift multiple barriers such as a global legal approval of cultured meat to be commercially sold, and public perception to be shifted to create mental ability to eat differently.

Cultivating meat of a long extinct animal was used to make people experience a new category, even without it being directly available to them.

With this captivating innovation, we reached 13 billion impressions without spending a penny in media. Global broadcasts and more than 12.500 global articles amounted to an earned advertising value of $120 million. Being skyrocketed, the Mammoth Meatball found its way to social media feeds of people globally.

We got the world to know cultured meat and changed its negative associations into anticipation to try. After seeing the campaign, 80% recognised the negative impact of the current meat industry on the environment and biodiversity loss and nearly 7/10 people perceived cultured meat as being nutritious, safe, healthy and tasty.Making 3/4th of respondents indicating cultured meat as an exciting, sustainable & realistic alternative.

The result: 95,7% increase in willingness to try cultured meat.

Our groundbreaking innovation created a mind-shift, opening new opportunities. We broke through the barriers needed to go from ‘niche’ to mainstream and making way for new innovations to come.