Before voting to adopt California’s $308 billion state budget last month, Assembly Member Ash Kalra, a Democrat from San Jose, took a tour of Upside Foods, a food technology startup in Emeryville. Inside the gleaming new $50 million facility, Kalra, who went vegan four years ago, and three other local politicians sampled Upside’s prototype: lab-grown, or “cultivated,” chicken meat.

“It reminded me of what chicken tastes like,” said Kalra, who was impressed. “It tasted gamy.”