[bblost]

Following this thread has made me question my first assumption on this topic.

I assumed that this will be something new to eat.

Looks like the majority thinks it will be a replacement for meat.

I don't understand why that is a good thing at all.
Vegetables taste really great on their own. They don't need to be dressed up and made to look like meat for people to eat them.
So the industry that is working towards making vegetables like Soy and Peas taste like beef and chicken are in my honest opinion following a useless path.

However there is this other industry that is trying to grow animal tissue in a lab. This might actually end up tasting just like meat. Maybe even better because a meat cell is a meat cell and these meat cells will be grown in a very controlled environment.
This is the industry that has me both terrified and fascinated at the same time.

[CarNerd]

Originally Posted by gjnnbagal

This post should have a third option as "I don't eat, I don't care either"

The third option should be "Can't say". Right now I have no idea about what lab meat is, how it smells, how it tastes, nothing.
So can't say..

[rpads1]

Voted 'NO'. I'd rather shun meat rather than eating a substitute.
Its like drinking non-alcoholic beer; well why have it in the first place then, coke works.
On a side note: I thought Paneer already substituted for chicken meat as the veg alternative, in most Indian dishes .

[raaj.bhalla]

If it is only about steaks and boneless meat, I will give it a try. But I am somewhat purist as well. I like to buy mutton while knowing the age of the animal and where it is bred. Also, in cooking and making a meal, it is just not the meat, it is the fat and the bones that add so much of taste and texture. How are we going to make broth and stews without bones? How I am going to dig into that leg piece of tandoori chicken while holding the bone? How I am going to enjoy that shank or raan as it is called in Hindi. There will be so many elements missing. Where will I get the fat for that kebab and keeema which makes it delicious and soft and juicy. Every cut of an animal provides for different use cases and taste and texture.

My description might sound graphic, but that will be a real life problem for me who loves to eat non veg.

I will go for a NO unless all elements are made available.

[TheVegabond]

Really interesting thread.

Let me segregate this in 2 parts (religion, guilt, ethics aside):

Poultry - Broiler chicken we get is something similar to lab grown meat and hence it tastes different to how a country chicken tastes.

Mutton/Fish - I don't enjoy frozen meat. Fresh meat or fish is tastier than the frozen one.

So unless the lab grown meat tastes close to the fresh meat, I may be reluctant to consume it regularly.

[alpha1]

People in general have issues with GMO food.
Isn't this lab grown meat like GMO?

Can someone having more knowledge about both the subjects elucidate the possible health issues that may crop up due to consumption of these?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by alpha1

People in general have issues with GMO food.
Isn't this lab grown meat like GMO?

I think most hate towards GMO came from their business practices, like IP protection for seeds, suing farmers even if seeds got blown into their farms, etc. Whether GMO is good or bad healthwise is yet to be proven either way.

[mmxylorider]

It comes down to a personal choice of the 'real' thing vs a synthetic version. Can one replicate that 100%. Nope.

Yes - I will give it a shot but a substitute for Kobe/Wagyu meat in a Teppanyaki setting will not cut it.

[INJAXN]

I am a Jain, I am a vegetarian.
Until I moved out of my parents' home, I had never been to any restaurant which serves non-veg food, not even Mac donalds and pizza hut.

My brain has been hard coded to stay away from Nov Veg ( meat, egg etc) food. My Dad taught me to check the "Green sign" before buying/consuming anything, even the medicines. And since then I follow it religiously.

Now, will the lab grown meat bear the green sign? even then I am not sure if I can eat any thing with the word meat in it. Its a psychological barrier which I might not be able to break.

For lab grown meat, I think they should come up with a different name altogether. because the meat means the flesh of an animal.

[TrackDay]

Like every new invention/discovery there will be a certain time period where people will be unsure if it is good or not.

For the environment this will definitely be a good thing. Personally I am slowly shifting into a vegetarian diet. Very slowly. I eat minimal non veg at meetings, social gathering etc., just so that I don't have to explain my diet preferences.

Regarding the whole topic of anti-biotics in farm animals, unhygienic farms etc. I would say vegetable are no better. They are sprayed with pesticides and insecticides too.

Currently I haven't voted since I don't know myself. I will wait and see how the market responds and see what the side effects are.

[ads11]

Voted a resounding yes.

I've always enjoyed my meats, including beef (far as my parents are concerned it's just protein, they're fine as long as I didn't eat it in front of grandparents).

Anyway, my partner and her family are vegetarian and I've found myself in the last year making quite a few conscious changes to my diet. I've tried Beyond Meat burgers and Impossible burgers and found them a bit tepid. That being said, I think Churchill's original statement rings true. For my daily consumption, if these companies, backed by massive venture and private capital can nail the industrial scale and crucially the texture of lab meat for say beef (different approaches by the two named companies regarding their products behaviour wrt bleeding, take a steak) or pork, poultry, you name it; I'd be sold. I'd be more than happy then for the actual meat from living animals to become a sort of treat I'd get from an actual butchers where I can trace the farm to table essentially or at restaurants that would be able to guarantee the same.

Must add it was a bit disheartening to see some Luddite-ish views from, but on the bright side, the hope is that if this does work out, it'll allow those folks to stick to their current purchasing habits and be outliers so to speak, whereas the bulk of global meat demand is met by a more sustainable approach.

[Romeo_Mike]

All I can do is laugh. This is such a waste of resources - finding high tech solutions to man-made problems. If people have recognized that meat production is not ecofriendly and is a draw on natural resources, then they should just eat less meat! Speaking of consuming anything lab grown, it just reminded me of this SNL sketch

https://youtu.be/KLHRjaUBb3o

P.S. - Voted No

[qaqa]

I very much hope that "cultured meat" really catches on. While I am an occasional non vegetarian, I do feel guilty at times when eating meat for two reasons -

1. Meat (esp red meat) is hugely inefficient and takes up disproportionate resources, and tends to involve significant environmental degradation.

2. Practically speaking, it is no longer feasible to have " free range" farms contributing much to the meat supply. In "factory farms" the way animals are treated is horrific. From the moment they are born till the day of slaughter they are tortured.

[lazy]

Voted Yes, since I'll definitely try this "meat".

I am totally looking forward for such products to be created and made available, and hopeful that this will reduce the cruelty towards animals for our consumption.

Don't get me wrong, I have been an everyday nonveggie all my life; but lately can't seem to un-see the cruelty involved. And since I love the taste, a "peaceful" alternative will be welcome.
Another point to consider for me, whether such lab grown meat comes with the same health impacts of regular meats. Though, something tells me, this being a processed food, it won't be healthy.

In any case, as long as these products reduce cruelty; it is a huge win.

cheers
lazy

[roy_libran]

I would definitely try out this Lab Grown Meat, and maybe even make it part of my diet if proven safe and tastes decent, but what is all this pontification about cruelty towards animals?


As far as I understand our natural order, every single species on this planet derives sustenance out of one or more other species. Whether or not the mechanism of getting that sustenance from the other species involves cruelty or not, is a very fragmented, culture-derived, environment-derived human definition, which Thankfully other species' don't bother themselves with.


So please choose to eat or not eat meat, whether natural or artificial, but let's stop preaching about animal cruelty.