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Lab Grown Meat... would you?

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  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    kristingjertsen wrote: »
    My grandparents used to complain that supermarket meat and chicken tasted nothing like "real meat" and "real chicken" does. They both grew up on farms, eating homegrown veggies, collecting eggs from the chicken house, keeping a cow for milk, butter, buttermilk, and cheese, and raising and slaughtering pigs, chicken, and beef for home consumption and sale. My great granddaddy even smoked his own country hams). The few times I was luck enough to eat the "real stuff" I had to agree with them. Nothing beats a southern plate of homegrown and home raised food. I suspect our descendants will be eating lab grown meat and seeing our consumption of living animals as somewhat disgusting and archaic.

    I would fit in quite well if I travel to the future and all meat is lab grown. I spent the first few years of my life in a farm. I gagged at the smell of "real" meat and wouldn't touch it as a child. As an adult, I learned to tolerate store-bought meat, but still can't do farm meat, beef, or meat that is packaged as a whole unit (whole chicken, for example). I suspect lab-grown meat would have less of what I perceive as gaminess because it's not "lived in" so to speak. Though a positive for me, I believe most meat lovers would see this as a shortcoming.

    I do see this, or a similar solution, replacing traditional butchering in the far future just like many things that used to be made by butchering animals no longer are. Tastes will likely change too, so the difference in flavor may become the new norm. I remember when my grandparents used to get together with people of their generation they had things few of my generation like (like sheep intestines stuffed with rice and meat, kind of like sausages that smell awful).
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
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    I read Daniel Suarez's last novel a while back, Change Agent, which is about a future where a good bit of technology is based on gene editing. One of the throwaway ideas in the story is that some people will only eat meat if it is lab grown and therefore 'deathless'. They're called Degans in the story. I thought it interesting that if the ersatz pork or chicken was never alive as part of an animal, it could be an acceptable part of a persons dietary ethos. Then again, I could only imagine the internet flame wars between degans and true vegans.
  • 777Gemma888
    777Gemma888 Posts: 9,578 Member
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    If they add more heme, I'd be willing to try it, much like the veggie meat made from soy heme.
  • kcs76
    kcs76 Posts: 244 Member
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    My knee jerk reaction to the idea of lab grown meat is ew gross, but the more I think about it, it's not really is it? Most of the meat in the supermarkets comes from factory farming. There are tons of chemicals added to the meat which can alter it drastically before it hits the shelves. How is that any different than meat that would be grown in a lab?
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    Hey...scientist here. Quick question to the general public. When did "lab" become a bad word? Just curious, thanks.

    Since Frankenstein.
  • Mandylou19912014
    Mandylou19912014 Posts: 208 Member
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    I think cost wise it could be more cost effective to eat because it would take several weeks before the meat can be harvested, rather than weeks or months or years for animals to grow.

    It could even replace factory farming which is great for the welfare of animals but could put a lot of people out of jobs.

    It could reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with meat production. It would probably take less energy to create

    It could actually protect endangered animals because we could take cells from the said animals and use those cells to create the meat, therefore preventing them from being killed

    We can engineer these meats to contain more protein and essential amino acids so that it’s healthier than farmed meat.

    Bad effects of creating these meats could be that either way we need to get stem cells from animals .. dead of alive .. and this would involve invasive procedures etc
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
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    snickerscharlie wrote: »
    Mari22na wrote: »

    And it would be helpful if you showed your face instead of a mad moniker.
    So you're really Lasse Matberg, then? ;)

    cfyr1vjbmd1f.jpg

    Coincidentally, she changed her avi just minutes after you posted this. So we know she's watching and 'woo'ing. That's some classic third-grade low-rent bull*kitten*.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    bpetrosky wrote: »
    snickerscharlie wrote: »
    Mari22na wrote: »

    And it would be helpful if you showed your face instead of a mad moniker.
    So you're really Lasse Matberg, then? ;)

    cfyr1vjbmd1f.jpg

    Coincidentally, she changed her avi just minutes after you posted this. So we know she's watching and 'woo'ing. That's some classic third-grade low-rent bull*kitten*.

    She changes her avi basically every day
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    I'm curious why farmed fish is singled out as unnatural but farming other animals is fine and natural. That's a whole other topic, though. I still don't understand what "not efficient for the body" means.
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
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    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    I'm curious why farmed fish is singled out as unnatural but farming other animals is fine and natural. That's a whole other topic, though. I still don't understand what "not efficient for the body" means.

    I doubt we'll ever find out.

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