Inside a UC Davis engineering lab, tiny round pellets swirl in a brown liquid inside a 5-liter glass tank. The tank, a bioreactor, is brewing edible fungi high in protein and designed to look and taste like meat.

In another lab on campus, a liquid nitrogen tank nicknamed “cryocow” holds frozen vials of cow muscle stem cells. Scientists hope to one day turn these cells into lab-grown meat, creating the burgers of the future. 

When Caleb Sehnert was growing up, he naturally was curious about what his dad did for work. So, on his way to summer camp, he’d park his bicycle at the UC Davis Meat Lab and go inside to visit with his father, Dan.

What he got was a first-hand look at how beef cattle, hogs, sheep and goats are harvested, processed and packaged. Dan was manager of the lab for 14 years starting in 1981. Caleb, now 37, landed the same job in 2008 and still holds it.