Lab grown protein: if created, would you move to it?
As a thinking experiment, let us consider that on the 1st of January of 2025 it is announced that an advance making possible growing any kind of animal tissue in laboratory conditions as been achieved and that it is possible to scale it in order to achieve industrial grade production level.
There is no limit on which animal tissues can be grown, so, any species is achieveable, only being needed a small cell sample from an animal to start production, and the cultivated tissues are safe for consumption.
There won't be any perceiveable price change to the end consummer, as the growing is a complex and labour intensive process, requiring specialized equipments and personnel.
Would you change to this new diet option?
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Impossible burgers are extremely unhealthy, full of processed flours and additives. It's best to not eat any "meat" at all, and instead eat whole vegan foods, than eat these things. Lab grown meat, if it's like real meat, is much more desirable health-wise.
Lab grown beef isn’t going to be healthier than vegan fake meats, you can’t make saturated fat be good for you even if it’s from a lab.
This fear mongering about veg replacement meats is mostly manufactured and not a mainstream view among dietitians.
Saturated fat is not evil, this is an old idea that has been debunked by latest research.
Mixed research has come out, if it was debunked it wouldn't be nearly so mixed. Regardless, the idea that plant based food is unhealthy because it uses 'processed flours' (literally all flours are processed?) is a fringe view.
Processed food is bad, this is common knowledge. Saturated fat is nothing compared to it. These fake burgers are ultra processed in order to feel like meat. Just do a search about processed foods on the guardian and nytimes in the last year. A LOT of new research has come out about it.
https://www.acsh.org/news/2022/09/15/ultra-processed-food-nutrition-myth-wont-die-16559
I thought you said it was common knowledge. is it groundbreaking research?
Yeah, so does smoking tobacco ! I assure you it has been debunked by Marlboro ! Smoking is healthy !
There's tons of plant based proteins already. Having already added more vegan meals to my diet I think this would just be another option for me and one more for novelty than anything else
Yeah, that. My preferences go: chicken > steak > pork > beans == lentils == hamburger > impossible meat > lab-grown meat > mechanically separated meat > starvation > insect meat
If also taking into account environmental concerns, test tube protein sinks further while beans and lentils rise to the top.
Edit: Why is this getting heavily down-voted without any reply?
I absolutely don't believe you'd refuse a worm meal burger over starvation. You say that because you're not starving.
Some people just need to not be told what it is and have it pepared to resemble something they're familiar with. My family wouldn't try calamari, but when I took them to a place that had it looking like noodles on a buffet, they tried it and liked it.
edit: Also, lots of people actually like anchovies and eat them on Caesar salad and in sauces without realizing.
I mean, I want people to understand what they are eating more, not less, as well as the consequences of producing it. So I'm not a fan of tricking people.
I wonder how much of people's disgust over certain foods is social rather than any ingrained revulsion, and if normalization will therefore make it a non-issue for the vast majorities.
Of course. Same reason why most people don't eat dog but eat pig. There's no other reason other than cultural and emotional.
For what it's worth, I like some foods in certain forms but not others, such as pureed but not whole. A plain anchovy (yum!) is far more powerful, bone-filled and salty than in sauces.
Then there are foods where I only like certain varieties, or they're very different when you have them in different regions, so someone can think they don't like a food but in reality they've only experienced a crappy version of it so far.
First insect meat I ever ate was some kind of BBQ tarantula in Cambodia. It was amazing. I don't shy away from insect meat at all now. I've even been to a Michelin Star restaurant that has insect based dishes. It's a cultural aversion, I get it, but the right insects prepared the right ways are great
Bugeaters.
Definitely. I see no downsides.
I don't eat very much meat as it is. But if I could drastically reduce the suffering inflicted when I do I would not hesitate.
Only if it's human.
Rimworld player found
For clarification, human meat or humane?
Yes
The answer I was hoping for!
You really thought I'd eat inhumanly sourced meat?
Hey I don't judge people from their fetishes. Not since the incident at least.
That's not a fetish; that's just playing with death with several possible causes for it.
Personally, I'd be the worst last meal of any canniba, as my body carries a nasty condition that would carry on to those consuming my corpse.
Bad breath?
Negative. It is a meat popsicle.
a celebrity.
As long at it wasn't even more destructive than normal cultivation (very much tbd), absolutely.
I had no qualms about switching to Beyond Meat either.
If we could figure out how to make a decent ribeye out of peas and seed oils, I'd prefer that to lab-grown too.
I'll move to it in a second. Protein with no need to slaughter animals would be so fantastic for the animals, the earth, and people.
There are so many wrong things on that sentence.
there's a not so small possibility that development of meat growing tech and patent expression will give us a niche market of not-available-before-for-ethical-reasons meats, like white rhinoceros burgers, cat and dog steaks, human fillets.
I don't really care about lab grown meat. Haven't eaten meat for years, don't really miss it that much since the plant based alternatives have gotten so good.
Give me lab grown dairy.
100%
I did hear, though I can't remember where, that someone had successfully gotten yeast to produce the protein in milk that is required for cheese.
I'm too lazy today to search for the article on it..
Reminder that the meat you buy at the grocery store is as also as human modified as it gets and NOTHING like the wild game that our ancestors ate or even the farm animals from 100 years ago. The animal itself is probably GMO, spends its entire life in a steel cage standing in its own shit and piss and is given specialized processed feed to optimize how much meat it produces (or just has a tube down its throat so we don't have to worry about it eating fast enough). Not to mention tons of antibiotics that are given to the animal just to ensure it survives the hell we put them through which definitely makes it into the meat and therefore into you as well. And they're slaughtered and butchered by underpaid overworked factory workers who have to balance fulfilling brutal quotas with carefully extracting the meat and not getting it contaminated with shit from the animal's guts or the myriad other disgusting things around the meat that you wouldn't want to eat (you can guess how well that usually goes).
Animal cells (without the animal itself and also no central nervous system to experience suffering) growing in a clean, well controlled lab in tanks of sterile cell media doesn't sound so bad in comparison.
Additional reminder that nearly all of the worst infectious diseases in history have been caused partially or completely by animal agriculture: the plague, spanish flu, smallpox, whooping cough, swine flu, bird flu, covid, etc. So if you're worried about the long term health implications of lab grown meat, you should be ten times more worried about long term the health implications of regular meat, to the point where you should be worried even if you don't eat meat.
once it’s affordable, yeah almost immediately i reckon. i already go for plant based meats whenever i can find them for a reasonable price!
protein isn't the issue, it's all the bio-available vitamins and healthy fats that have already been converted.
if it's a 1 for 1 replacement, depending on how we deal with the massive and now useless animal populations, I would totally switch.
What do you think supplements are for?
corporate profits.
Exactly.
Yes, absolutely. No risk of virus or bacteria, or worse...
Grown to the size you want...
Of the shape and type you want...
No fat (maybe?)....
What's not to like.
What kinda idiot would want no fat?
The kind that wants realllllly consistent beef jerky.
Constipation-jerky
I'd say price is definitely a factor. I already pass over good cuts of meat for that reason. Also taste/texture/overall experience. If it checs those boxes, and it has been on the market long enough to be confident I won't get instant cancer, then 100%! A little marbled fat makes it better though.
Yeah, definitely some fat is needed...
But I can see hordes of healthy people looking for fatless meat, as they already do I the supermarkets.
Sup. No need to keep doing it the old way at that point.
Hell, you could have boneless meat, so it's even better.
But the bones are how you make banging soups....
It's OK you can make fake bones too
Fuck it, I'm in!
hell yeah. soon as its not way more expensive than normal meat, i'm down. your proposed technology also sounds like it should mean lab grown replacement organs with zero chance of rejection, which would be amazing.
Labs be like
Fair
As long as it scaled to reasonably the same price as current meat, I'd absolutely do it unless there were some significant downsides like it somehow being even worse for the environment.
This ^
If it's better for the environment and doesn't involve the industrial scale poor treatment and wanton slaughter of animals, AND it tastes just as good, I'd be on-board instantly. Even with a premium price hike for consistency.
Roll on quality facon, wagu beeef, and octo-chi k en drumsticks.
I do think that flora missed a trick with vegan, fake meats though...
"I can't believe it's not bacon/ burger/ chicken" they would have slaughtered that ad campaign
I eat tacos bell
its 3am and i laughed my ass off. why?
Impossible Burgers already exist and are fucking delicious.
But, sure, if I can have pastrami or corned beef again without requiring a cow experience a life full of torment, emit a cow's lifetime of methane, or have any of that happen where a forest should instead have been left untouched, I'd try it!
I had some impossible patty from restaurants and it's actually not bad and fairly close to meat flavor.
The beyond stuff is a hard pass.
How does it taste?
How much does it cost?
What’s the true environmental impact?
If it’s the same, less and less, sure I’d be all for it.
OP said it costs the same.
Its the only way I would eat meat again. But don't think it will ever become a normal part of my diet again. The plant-based meat options are just as good and are healthier. They will only get better too.
You haven't mentioned if there are any ethical concerns with this new meat; e.g. environmental cost of the production process, what kind of human labour is required to create it, who is providing that labour and under what conditions are they working.
Provided I had no ethical concerns with it, sure, but a lot of modern innovations tend to have these issues and I assume lab-grown meat would have these issues too.
Edit: Also, I'm opposed to animal captivity, so if there's an ongoing need to collect samples from captive livestock then no, I wouldn't. If it's a "collect it once then it keeps reproducing from the lab samples forever" type of thing then sure.
If it were indistinguishable from other meat sources, and priced similarly (preferably less!), then of course. I expect it will take a very long time to get to that point, though.
I would be wildly optimistic, but very cautious.
I'd want to see multi-year randomized control trials comparing the bioavailability of not only protein, but also vitamins and minerals from the synthetic meat and liver, to natural meat and liver.
Assuming the RCTs show no issues, then I would happily move over.
Modern meat products are on a spectrum as well, it's not just having the meat, it's what the meat ate before it became me that's important. Grass-fed, versus grain fed for beef. Insect, and protein for chickens, grain fed for chickens etc. antibiotics, hormones being supplemented into the feed to improve yields.
One massive problem the industry globally suffers from is overpromising. Just like multivitamins, which are very poorly bioavailable, and mostly peed out, they promise a lot but don't deliver much.
Factors I would look for:
Green sustainability:
That was a very compreensive answer. You gave me a few thinking points.
If it was healthy, affordable, and tasty, then yes.
If it isn't all three, then Veganism can continue to go fuck itself.
You are not limited to meat and lab-created meat, you know? Vegetarians can tell you to eat eggs and cheese if you want. Vegans will tell you that there are large varieties of plant-based proteins, amongst: lentils, soy, whole cereals, even green vegetables. While these tend to not be as complete nor bio-available as meat or eggs, if you combine them you can have various, delicious and protein-rich meals. I am personally working out a lot and my mostly vegan diet (some eggs and cheese from time to time) is enough for my protein needs.
I mean, if your goal is to keep the meat experience, then yeah, I get your point. But other than that....
I think that was indeed very obviously the point. The point of both the comment you were replying to and this lab grown meat idea as a whole.
I'm not really good with obvious subtexts, I'm sorry ^^
Because Veganism is yet another new age fad diet based in pseudoscience and I will have no part in it. It's just Einstein Pain Wave nonsense.
People showing empathy towards animals and their living condition isn't exactly what I would label pseudoscience. It has nothing to do with science to begin with
Yes, but you can't actually survive on a Vegan diet.
You're too funny
Cutting down on eating meat is as good as going vegan
Villianising anyone and everyone who even so much as touches a chicken breast is a damn blunder and totally puts me off against the community
Then again, most vegans that are decent wouldn't be pushy and tell people they're vegan
Why would I ever cut down on meat though? It's filling, delicious, and the reason why humans evolved intelligence in the first place.
Because humans found similar delicious alternatives?
I mean, it's your choice and Europe and America heavily depend on a meat based diet with the exception of bread
Impossible! eats a handful of popcorn and some curly fries
No joke that is what I had for dinner tonight, I'm trying to cutback on finances.
It's not a flex or anything, I just find it ironic that I'm eating corn and potatoes for dinner the same day I lecture people on the internet about Veganism being bad, and I need someone to note the melancholy I'm experiencing.
Veganism is already healthy, affordable, and tasty. Ever heard of a bean? And only doing the ethical thing when it is also the easiest thing to do is just extreme egotism. I'm not saying anyone has to be a saint, but they should at least put more consideration into their actions than "How does this affect me personally?"
Kind of depends on if it's good, tbh.
If it's just mediocre, I might try and work it in some meals where I'd use lower quality meat (e.g. sauces, sausage, burgers, etc). Then I'd just get a good real steak from a local ranch a few times a year to scratch that itch.
If the difference is not really perceivable or better, then hell yeah. Easy choice. I might even venture into other meats that I wouldn't eat otherwise like lamb, dog, horse, or even human.
Only if I could put my own DNA in it so I could eat my own ass
I... really don't have a reply to that. Autophagy? Perhaps?
sucking your own meat would be crazy
I would sooner argue for eating insects vs. lab-grown protein made by a corporation. I have no trust for corporations to produce safe and emergent solutions to the problems we face as a species and world. They have no incentive to do the right thing and put the brakes on when things are looking bad.
I always assume any hypothetical beneficial scenario is happening under socialism or another system that discards the profit motive because while we're dreaming might as well dream big.
Just trying to ground things into our current reality. But yeah, I think in a world where there is an incentive to do good, it's a no-brainer that we could do stuff like this in a lab and in a much more efficient way than agriculture or raising livestock/etc. for protein sources.
As someone that has the genetic trait that enables me to smell insects... thank you, but no thank you.
Regarding corporations controlling lab meat production: regulation, control, overview.
Those are fairy tail words in the US
There is more to the world than the US.
Hence why I said "in the US" genius...
Why, thank you, Mr. President. It's an honor to get a compliment from a personality such as yourself.
TIL, and of course I echo the sentiment of the other commenter that those words don't truly exist here in the US, and I agree with you that the world is a much larger place than the US. I just would hope that European countries (or whatever other countries are concerned about the health of their people) lead the charge if such a solution to our protein came to be.
And the insects would be provided by whom if not a huge corpos? You create some false equivalence here, it's the ages old struggle of lowering the food costs of feeding workers by making us eat worse things. Potatoes instead of wheat, highly process foods, fats and sugars in everything and ultimate fucking step is looming: eating bugs. You can't go worse than that unless it's a fucking soylent green which i can guarantee you would be somewhere next in the line after you allow the mega rich to feed you bugs.
I was attempting to communicate that I would sooner argue for eating insects over lab-grown protein mainly because of the danger I see in the concept of a food source that is only able to be produced in a lab, not that I am going to seriously argue for insects to be seen as anything other than a potential option for protein. Plenty of other cultures utilize insects in food willingly, and I'm all about arguing for consent and what's best for everybody individually.
I think we will have to get very creative to solve our problems with agriculture and food production, and I think all options should be fairly entertained if they can be done in a way that is truly safe while prioritizing the will of the people. I'm of the opinion that our food sources should be more natural and that's also what I was attempting to touch on.
The only thing I'd wait for is for the process to be refined enough to be more eco friendly than just eating real meat. I'd do it, but until there's proof of it being more sustainable and won't tank my blood thin/thickness levels (blood thinners sometimes suck), I would be down to try it at the very least.
Though I would receive resistance in changing my diet until either my dad changes his eating habits or I move out on my own because my dad absolutely refuses things like plant based meats, so I know he'd most likely resist lab grown meat as well. It's also hard for my mom and I to switch to a healthier dinner diet since both my dad and older brother wouldn't dare change their diets to something like a Mediterranean or some other healthier because they can be picky eaters (especially my older brother).
Is it good? Like does it actually taste like steak? Economical to produce? Is it better for the economy and the environment, Hell yes, then.
Imagine a perfectly marbled, perfectly rectangular, gristle free Wagyu quality steak that you could sear in some butter in a cast iron and serve right up.
No animal had to be raised and slaughtered. Less drain on resources. Less land usage.
I'm not convinced that the technology will ever get there, but what do I know. I'm just some dude on the internet.
It would be a novelty at best, though I'm not a big meat eater (flexatarian). I'd rather have tempeh or plant based meat
Is this really up for debate?
Much like with the fossil fuel industry squeezing out renewable energies at every opportunity, I suspect we're going to see the powerful agricultural lobbies shut down competitors until the owners of these big businesses can insert themselves as the sole proprietors of the lab meat industry.
On the flip side, retailers are going to want to drive down their costs, so they'll only switch when the price drops below the current floor set by firms like Tycoon and Cargill. But once it does... you'll be foolish to assume what you're eating isn't lab grown if it means a business increasing its profits.
The end result will be people who want lab meat finding themselves prohibited from buying it and people who don't want lab meat unwittingly consuming it.
There exists a world outside corpo US. Like europe which has better competition in every way. Even ads are better here than in the US.
M&A is coming for Europe in a big way as the neoliberal policies of the states seep in through all the cracks. 2025 is gearing up to be a big year for Euro bank consolidation. We've already seen a lot of the industrial sector hollowed out of the Southern EU states and consolidated in Germany. Crackups like what happened in Yugoslavia in the 90s and border wars like what we're seeing with Ukraine/Russia have also immolated domestic industry in a way we haven't seen since the Years of Lead.
We'll see how long that lasts. If the UK is a bellweather, it looks like the Elon-ification of your economy is just a matter of time.
European sad agreeing noises
I would definitely eat cultured meat as long as it’s not too expensive.
If I could afford it yeah of course
Yes, of course. I'll be among the first in line to try it. Anything to reduce our dependence on livestock is a good idea in my book. It would save me the trouble of having to go vegan. Plus I bet guilt-free meat tastes so much better.
Absolutely. I'll take grown meat over slaughtered. Last i heard they basically just need to make the equipment cheaper to have it be viable. I'm awaiting it.
The day it's on the shelf is the day I'll buy it.
The only question I have is about prions, which are just misfolded proteins. As long as the quality control is good enough I don't have to worry about that, then I'd have no problem with it.
making meat green? Sure, it would be cheaper and less destructive.
I've been vegan for almost 25 years, and vegetarian for couple years before that... and I'd be happy it existed, but I wouldn't eat it. I don't miss meat, and the idea of eating any of it just grosses me out.
Same, I get why beyond meat exists but I can't touch the stuff myself and it sucks when that's the only option available
I actually like Beyond/Impossible lol. I guess for me it's about knowing that it's made out of vegetables.
its all about cost. The plant based while not as good as meat is decent and if cost competitive I would use it to at least reduce met consumption. lab grown at price parity would almost get me to switch. Problem is my wife is turned off by it so that will be a complication. crickets are fine to me in food so processed you would not notice.
Instantly! I'm already drooling at the door of every meat lab hoping for the day I can get perfect texture meats from any possibly creature to potentially cook with. Imagine the possibilities! Fried dodo, elephant steak, shark kabob, all without the moral, ethical, or biological risks that come with consuming extinct animals, sapient beings, or super predators. The culinary world will never be more shook!
Lots of comments along the lines of "only if it tastes the same" but no one seems to consider the possibility of it tasting better. Like what if lab grown meat is an orgasm for your mouth?
Baseline for the average person will be the make-believe-meats already on the market. Can't blame them.
Personally, if you want to cut back on meat consumption, just cut it and enrich your diet with other ingredients and new dishes and cooking styles. For me, the entire industry of the meat-that-isn't is an ugly grab for the wallets of people, not something necessary.
Meat should be a luxury.
still waiting for the mass to consume it and see what happen, also waiting for the price too
It already exists. We need to be pouring subsidies into it. I would absolutely switch, if it was widely available.
Not only is it better for the environment, but it’s also not loaded with antibiotics or been exposed to fecal matter at the farm.
I'd try it if the price came down. Fake meat is in the store now but I still eat the real thing. Maybe the current stuff isn't what OP is talking about.
I will let you all try it first. Going to pass on crazy mutation diseases.
I’d rather go vegan. Falafel all the way.
No, i'd go vegan before i'd eat cultured meat. I'm not opposed to it and it's probably better for the economy and environment, but I have a mental thing about it. Granted if I had to catch and clean my own meat, i'd also probably go vegan. Maybe I'm just squeamish about my food.
What is the mental thing you have against lab grown meat?
It sort of grosses me out. I don't know how to explain it.
Still a valid reason, food is just as much pure nutritional values as well as emotional responses from the people who will decide to eat it or not
Sorta sounds like you already think meat is gross.
Yeah, I'm pretty picky about the meat I do eat. It's the fat and gristle that I can't stand. After a pork chop, it looks like a dissection. I don't like to eat around bones. If I think about it too much, old probably end up vegetarian, which would probably be better for me given my other health issues. I don't think anybody ever died from eating too many vegetables.
This actually happened to me too for quite a long while. I knew I would be vegan for maybe 10 years before I decided I should just do it one day. Life's weird like that. I will say its pretty important to have fresh veggies and fruits nearby or else its practically impossible no matter what.
I do wish more people would come to terms with that, I have no issues with people eating meat provided they're actively aware of what's happened to put that meat on their plate
Too many people never even think about it
As a vegetarian, I wouldn't care much for it. I feel like the plant-based alternatives have got everything covered I could want from meat (and more, if you look beyond Western cuisine). And then I just feel like it's hard to compete with them in terms of sustainability, efficiency, price etc.. In particular, I also really cannot be fucked to put more perishable things into my fridge. I had bought these meatball-like things for Christmas, but didn't eat the whole load on the first go, so had to cram them in a few days later. Meanwhile my lentils, beans, TVP, peas, nuts etc. just sit there for months, not needing any of my attention.
Without hesitation. If the taste, consistency, nutrition, and price are all the same, then the only differences would be whether an animal was bred to suffer until slaughter and the likelihood of illness from consumption. I'm assuming that stuff like e coli would be nearly impossible through this. Plus less demand on farm meat means less chance of coronavirus mutations like the 2009 swine flu outbreak. And less of a need for the real estate, feed, and potable water to grow those animals. I must be missing something because I'm struggling to see a downside here.
I'm sure that, in the same way that there's still a market for objectively inferior exploitatively mined diamonds as a status symbol instead of lab created diamonds, there would still be a market for rEaL meat where "you can really taste the suffering" or whatever.
Now here's the more interesting question that actually has me on the fence: if "growing any kind of animal tissue" is what has been achieved, where would you stand on consuming lab-grown human meat? Is it immoral? Are there risks? Should such a thing be restricted in some way like alcohol or handguns? What would be the proper etiquette and presentation and everything if it became socially accepted? What wine would pair best with it? Or would it be more of a beer pairing? If this weren't socially acceptable, would no-suffering chimpanzee meat be okay?
If it only takes a small cell sample, would it be unethical to dig up extinct animals like mammoths or dodo specifically to enjoy their meat? If that's okay, and it chimps are okay, would neanderthals be okay to eat? Where would we draw the line?
I don't think the value is sadism in itself, but the supposed natural purity; it's the sense of authenticity. They'd be more likely to market it like "As nature intended", "no nasty chemicals, organic", "no added dihydrogen monoxide", like that. You can play on the silly fear of scary chemical names.
I suppose animal furs is a relevant case study. Synthetic alternatives exist, but the real thing is considered a status icon by idiots.
That all said, fuck those cruel idealistic pieces of shit and the suffering they enable.
Human meat, the inevitable question!
I see literally no ethical problem with eating non-sentient lab-grown meat, and I don't see why it being human flesh should be treated specially. I'm not even trying to equivocate humans and other animals, I don't consider human meat to be a human being, so there's no farming torture I'm concerned about, and I care about the meat's death as much as I care about a jellyfish or grass being squished. It's not like they're farming an entire conscious human like The Matrix, that would be uneconomical. (that said, what if humans were lab-grown for scientific research like lab animals? That's a more confronting question to me!)
I'm no expert, but I suspect human diseases are more transferable than other animal meat diseases, so that's a consideration. Contamination is always a concern, I'd assume.
I don't care. I can buy chicken nuggets and eat them with my elbows, if I want. I'll do that with human meat too. I already side with Frank Reynolds' perspective on the whole 'respect for the dead' tradition, put me up on a mountain for vultures and flowers like the Zoroastrianists, but this isn't even a sentient, let alone social, being. The only real etiquette I would consider is to make sure people aren't unknowingly served it, same with pork and other meats, because that could be unreasonably cruel to someone who is alive.
You're looking for an answer or just going rethorical?
Asking seriously.
Yeah, asking for real. We might see such a scenario come to pass in my lifetime. If there's no human suffering and nobody has to die for it to occur, is there anything other than "seems icky" that would stop most people from at least trying human meat at some point in their life? Would it be illegal, legal but restricted, or as legal as beef? If not illegal, would you try it, and if so, how?
Sit down. Grab a drink, if you're a drinker. Relax.
Story time.
My country was involved in a somewhat civil war between 1961 and 1974. Grisly thing, fought overseas, in many different scenario. For some, it was a holiday season, as the terrain they were deployed to was essentially peaceful or very low combat prone but others saw very harsh conditions, with even lack of combat rations.
On one particular front, things got so ugly, so dire, that at some point people did resort to cannibalism. Well, a mix of cannibalism and necrophagia, as the fresh corpses of the deceased would be dug up during the night, pieces of the flesh harvested and the corpse returned to its grave. Heads were treated as a delicacy.
According to a man that spent three years on that hell and came back alive to tell the story, and now I quote: "tasted like pork, a little sweeter and a bit more oily but it was better than slowly starving to death". Soldiers and locals alike were reduced to such last resort solutions.
That's for the taste part.
For the dangers of eating it, there are prion diseases like Kuru. It is always a concern lifted against the consumption of human flesh. Then there are the autoimmune diseases, pathogens and virus we all carry.
Since the theoretical at hand is based on the premise of all meat being lab cultivated, I risk most of those risks would be diminished.
Personally, I wouldn't eat it. Religious authorities would jump off their rails just on the simple mention of the idea.
Cannibalism was a last resort solution in extreme desperation. Have some nightmare fuel on me.
I appreciate the response. I'd heard that it's similar to pork, and I've heard of prion diseases like kuru being a problem (which might be a non-issue if lab-grown maybe?)
It makes sense for religions to have a problem with it, possibly all meat made this way and not just human as it's "unnatural" or whatever. I'm no expert on religions of the world, but I'm not aware of any explicit directive to not eat human meat, but it wouldn't surprise me either way really.
So I guess assuming it were safe to eat which was my assumption, only secular people would really consider it. But maybe a lot of religious people wouldn't bother with any of the lab grown meat in the first place, so it's possible that lab grown human meat would be tried by as many people as any of the other options.
I'd want to try some exotic synthetic meats you can't or shouldn't get anymore like dodo or dolphin. I wouldn't have the stomach to try it but you can bet there'll be some market for synthetic long pig. For normal consumption though I don't eat much meat now so I'd probably just go with whichever if there's no difference in cost or calories.
Let me tell ya.
https://youtu.be/EJG3t5Omteg
You asked this question in all seriousness but all I can hear is:
Crickets
The smell of the critters is enough to make my skin crawl.
Why not?
For seafood yes, but I'm unlikely to bother regrowing the necessary gut biome for other meats
Sure. Custom meat, without the unnecessary parts sounds great.
We don’t eat red meat at all, so I would probably try it out fairly quickly. Actually we don’t eat chicken or the like either, only fish, which is something I miss a bit more now and then. We have a dried product called NoChicken that is actually pretty good, so that’d probably be sufficient for me to wait a bit to see how it goes long term (I.e is it truly safe to consume).
But every now and then, I miss game. Moose and wood grouse mainly. That’d probably hook me enough to try it quickly.
Jesus, people bitch about processed foods but have no issues with whatever shit has to be put into this to make it grow?
Most that bitch about processed foods have no idea what "processed" actually means.
Most of the 'chemicals' they're worried about occur naturally at quantity in plants and fruit.
The lab-grown meat uses the same organics that happen in the animal to trigger growth.
That said, price-wise, real meat will have to become very very expensive before lab-grown meat will be competitive. Breeding cattle is expensive, but a lot of it is just making sure life happens. Cows are hearty, self feed and have immune systems.
Depends on whether if it can be integrated into any of my recipes; or could be used in different recipes that taste good. Since it matches the price criteria for me; all that remains is the taste.
Can I see the lab?
no
Darnit...
Don't ask to see a slaughterhouse...
Sure, why not? I don't eat meat currently but I'd prolly throw in a lab burger or two occasionally if they were available
Which protein? Sonic hedgehog? Tell genetic engieneers what protein you want, and they will make yeast make that protein. Or ecoli. Or rice. Or tomato. Or anything else.
Assuming it becomes a viable product, I wonder how it'll impact veganism? Since there's no animal cruelty.
As a vegan I would totally eat it. My only concern would be how healthy it is. Impossible meats aren’t super healthy so far
That is a good question.
In theory, veganism is only opposed to conscious animals that didn't consent to being eaten, so I see no reason why they'd be opposed
There are various different vegan philosophies, some basically won't consume anything that had anything they view as animal exploitation anywhere in the process
For example, to some of the more extreme forms of veganism, if your vegetables, grains, or other plant-based foodstuffs were hauled in a cart by a horse, or if you used an ox to pull a plow in the fields while it was growing, they wouldn't consider that to be vegan.
Some also object to honey for similar reasons.
Many, probably most, vegans don't go quite that far, but they're definitely out there, and everyone draws the line at a different place.
That's one variety of veganism, but hardly the only reason to go vegan.
Do you care to expand on that?
Sure. While animal welfare is a popular reason to go vegan, so is environmentalism —my own reason— and so is personal health. If the lab-grown meat is worse for the environment than a plant-based diet, people concerned about the environment will still choose the latter.
Of course not, I want my food to suffer.
Why not giving the food a fighting chance, then?
Sounds good
500 protein bars...
As if the facists will allow it...
Yes.
I'd try it.
Well price would probbly drop if the large scale production method using factory machines arrives. A laboratory synthesis will be scaled if people would buy
Only if the culture medium for the meat cells is not made of living animals.
Yes and I hope the tech can replace dairy too.
Almond milk is good. Tastes really close to dairy milk, IMO. Dare I say it's even better.
A lot of milk replacements are common allergens. I can't eat almonds. A lot of people can't have soy. I'm guessing very few people are allergic to all of them, though.
Nope. I avoid ultra processed food and that would be the ultimate in ultra processing. I've been reducing my animal protein intake regularly, and consider this important, but not enough to risk my health on it.
No, I'll stick to my delicious plants. I don't really like meat.
I've never heard this, bit have tried to explain it to people and failed. If you're going to try to find a vegan substitute for a thing, most of the time it will fail to impress because it's not the thing that it's pretending to be. Take vegan cheese. It's probably worse for you than regular cheese because it's super processed.
I have several meals that I make that are vegan, but don't need to be labeled as vegan because it's not a substitute. For example, I make chili with those big mushrooms because I like the taste, but I don't call it a vegan chili, I call it a mushroom chili.
White/non-white vegan? That is uncharted territory for me. Can you expand a little more on that?
I'm a fence sitter on the eggs front, not going to lie.
I had a few chickens for some time, always made sure they were well fed, sheltered and protected from potential predators and at some point they just started laying eggs around. There was no rooster to fertilize the eggs, so... it was just spoiling around.