One of the raw materials: soybeans. For many years, bioengineering professor Xie Fuhong has been thinking about how to solve the problem of imitating chicken.

In his view, imitation chicken is nothing more than mixing together soybeans, wheat gluten, oil and water, the ingredients from which most imitation meats—including vegetarian chicken—are made.

The question is, how to mix it?

How do you turn this gooey mess into a piece of chicken?

The professor, who was born in Taiwan and completed his studies at Syracuse University in the United States, and his partner Harold Huff, a Missouri native with a rough voice, began to mess around in the laboratory.

The first thing they have to solve is the texture of the chicken, a problem that has vexed other copycats for years.

Before an animal is placed on the chopping board, its entire body of flesh has been immersed in a vibrant liquid full of oxygen, hormones, sugar and plasma for many years.

This fluid is called blood.

And vegetarian meat does not have the honor of swimming in the blood before being served. How can you expect them to have a tender and chewy texture?

How do these "artificial chickens" taste?

Is it enough to attract vegetarians and foodies?

On the day that American reporters visited their lab, the two professors recruited some culinary college students and worked with them to create three dishes: a grilled chicken sandwich, a tarragon chicken salad, and Mexican scallions.

The combination of the dishes is not very good, and the seasoning can only be said to be average.

But when those pieces of meat pass through the tips of the teeth and are chewed open in the mouth, it tastes exactly like boneless chicken breast.

They have fine fibers and are not too fatty.

This soy product does not melt into a ball like other veggie burgers, but is silky and very chewy.

In a word, this is meat!