| Sumario: | Leo Marx's seminal work, Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America, continues to offer invaluable insights into the evolving relationship between technology and nature, particularly in contemporary debates surrounding food production. This paper examines the relevance of Marx's concepts to the discourse on cultured meat, a burgeoning biotechnological innovation in the food sector. By drawing on Marx's analysis of the tension between technology and nature, we explore how the cultured meat industry navigates this dichotomy, often echoing Marx's notion of the 'middle landscape' as a fusion of nature and technology. Through an analysis of discourses surrounding cultured meat, we elucidate how the industry constructs notions of nature and technology, and how these constructions intersect with the ideals of the 'middle landscape'. Using examples from audiovisual and written promotional materials, we decode the cultural significance attributed to cultured meat and its implications for contemporary food imaginaries. Additionally, we contextualize the discourse on cultured meat within broader debates on ecomodernism, highlighting the socio-political dimensions of technological innovation in food production. By revisiting Marx's insights, this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex social dynamics shaping contemporary food systems and environmental discourse.
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