For the first time in its roughly two-year history, an Israeli startup claims to have achieved a key step toward the holy grail of the lab-grown-meat industry: turning animal cells into the delicate and sinewy tissue of steak. 

Aleph Farms, which got its start with help from an Israeli research institute and an incubator that's part of the food giant that owns Sabra — the most popular hummus in America — said on Wednesday that it had produced the world's first lab-grown steak. 

Based on photographs and video, the thin but clearly steak-like cut of beef appears to be a big milestone toward eventually making meat without slaughter that is ready for people to eat. 

"The smell was great when we cooked it, exactly the same characteristic flavor as a conventional meat cut," Aleph's CEO and founder, Didier Toubia, told Business Insider.