1st of January of 2025 it is announced that an advance making possible growing any kind of animal tissue in laboratory conditions
Let me tell ya.
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1st of January of 2025 it is announced that an advance making possible growing any kind of animal tissue in laboratory conditions
Let me tell ya.
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.
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.
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!
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....
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
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'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
If I could afford it yeah of course
Iβd rather go vegan. Falafel all the way.
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.
That said, price-wise, real meat will have to become very very expensive before lab-grown meat will be competitive.
At least in the U.S., meat production/pricing is heavily subsidized.
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.
For seafood yes, but I'm unlikely to bother regrowing the necessary gut biome for other meats
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?
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.
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.
I would definitely eat cultured meat as long as itβs not too expensive.
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.
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
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.
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.
Can I see the lab?
no
Darnit...
Don't ask to see a slaughterhouse...
500 protein bars...
As if the facists will allow it...
Only if I could put my own DNA in it so I could eat my own ass
sucking your own meat would be crazy
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.
In a heartbeat. Although Iβd prefer meat alternatives to lab grown meat. Like impossible burgers.
I donβt eat a ton of meat, and Iβd like to eat even less. this option would help me feel like Iβm not making animals suffer just so I can survive.
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).
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:
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. If it's the same, of course. I don't like killing cats for food.