Lab-Grown Burgers: The Future?

[Tarquelne]

I saw a documentary on this.

Couple of quotes:

Jerome [tasting meat made in lab]: It tastes familiar.
Ted: Beef?
Jerome: No.
Linda: Chicken? We'll take chicken.
Jerome: No.
Ted: What does it taste like?
Jerome: It tastes like…it tastes like…despair. Yes, that’s it. Despair.
Ted: Is it possible it just needs salt?

Lem: Maybe the meat blob's not taking in enough nutrients. I guess I could try and give it a mouth.
Ted: I'm gonna say no to the meat blob getting a mouth. Mostly because I don't want to hear what it has to say

Also:

Spoiler :

Phil: Blobby, like Bobby, only with an l
Lem: Don't name it or you won't want to eat it. Remember Chester the carrot?
Phil: Yeah, I miss him

Veronica: We have a problem. The Food Division just told me that the "Extra Fun Mac and Cheese" I'm supposed to be presenting to the shareholders causes blindness if eaten more than twice a week. Plus, no matter how long it's cooked, it never gets hot.
Ted: Maybe it's not Mac and Cheese.
Veronica: Oh, no, it has to be. They've already designed the box

 

[Kyriakos]

It seems less likely, though, that science has progressed sufficiently to be able to safely create something for food, which will be anywhere near as beneficial and safe as the traditionally created food.

 

[North King]

Why would you even care if it tastes like real beef -- so long as it tastes delicious and fills you up? No one cares that cherry flavored candies taste nothing like cherries.

 

[Synobun]

I think you two are missing the point that this is really the same as "traditional" meat. It uses bovine stem cells and muscle/fat layers. The only problem right now is to perfect the process, make it possible to add easy variance, and make it possible to be commercialized on a more common scale.

 

[Kyriakos]

While i agree that not having to slaughter animals so as to eat them would be good progress, i am not sure if the science behind lab-produced food is that complete at the moment. I know i would not want to be the guinea pig for this new brand of food.

 

[bhsup]

So...stem cells, huh? Does this open the window in the future of legal cannibalism by growing human stem cell steak??? I'm quite serious, this is something to be leery of. If it can be done, someone somewhere will probably try to make a market for it.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

While i agree that not having to slaughter animals so as to eat them would be good progress, i am not sure if the science behind lab-produced food is that complete at the moment. I know i would not want to be the guinea pig for this new brand of food.

But the meat from cows that live with added hormones, antibiotics, manure, etc. is fine?

no H1N1 (ecoli) infection

I think you mean O157:H7. H1N1 is a flu strain.

I recognize what you're saying Oerdin. But the principle cost to vat-beef is the research to perfect it. Once that's done, it will be a cheap industrial process, inexpensively reproducible all over the word - water and soy I'm guessing. Meanwhile vast tracts of land will be freed-up for other uses.

Not to mention the freedom of not having to worry about methane and other environmentally-harmful emissions.

 

[Kyriakos]

But the meat from cows that live with added hormones, antibiotics, manure, etc. is fine?

Not fine at all, but in Europe 'biological' products (ie cleaner products, with traditional methods- which cost more though) are successful in having a part of the market. Maybe we should get back to that.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I saw a documentary on this.

I'll be honest, that fine piece of cinematography was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread.

 

[_random_]

:/ Is there any particular reason that you actually WANT to see a creature die a terrible death in front of your eyes or is it just your personality?

Being a smartass is certainly part of my personality, if that's what you mean. I don't actually feel that way. If this technology does prove successful, I could see meat becoming more of a niche market, which would probably eliminate factory farming techniques. That'd be pretty cool.

 

[GoodGame]

Why would you even care if it tastes like real beef -- so long as it tastes delicious and fills you up? No one cares that cherry flavored candies taste nothing like cherries.

I'd say that is a poor analogy, as why waste your money on the cheap cherry flavored-candies if you can get the real thing (real cherries, or higher quality cherry liquor candies)?

Believe it or not, I eat vegan as often as I eat meat, but when I eat meat.....it better be the good stuff, not the bottom dollar meat. Taste does matter to me.

Another analogy If tastes in food didn't matter, then we wouldn't have Filet Mignon, Kobe beef, etc.. etc... If taste didn't matter, we'd happily pay just as much for that as we would for the "extreme family bargain pack" of ground beef. But we don't operate like that, because taste does matter.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Filet mignon may taste better, but I eat less expensive, lower grade meat far more often.

 

[_random_]

I think you two are missing the point that this is really the same as "traditional" meat. It uses bovine stem cells and muscle/fat layers. The only problem right now is to perfect the process, make it possible to add easy variance, and make it possible to be commercialized on a more common scale.

What about bones? Bones are important.

 

[Synobun]

What about bones? Bones are important.

I'm not sure you'll find very many hamburgers out there with bones in them.

 

[_random_]

I'm not sure you'll find very many hamburgers out there with bones in them.

I don't think lab grown beef would be worth the investment if it couldn't at least produce a passable steak.

 

[Synobun]

I don't think lab grown beef would be worth the investment if it couldn't at least produce a passable steak.

Erm, why? You don't eat the bones anyways, and regardless of your strict tastes, vat beef would have the potential of replacing all meat that fast food joints use, and all ground beef, which I'm hazarding a guess makes up over half of the meat used that is bovine.

 

[NickyJ]

Would you eat a lab-grown burger?

No.

If not, why?

Call me purist, but I like the kind of meat that's made of meat.

So...stem cells, huh? Does this open the window in the future of legal cannibalism by growing human stem cell steak??? I'm quite serious, this is something to be leery of. If it can be done, someone somewhere will probably try to make a market for it.

This.

 

[General Pilates]

Erm, why? You don't eat the bones anyways, and regardless of your strict tastes, vat beef would have the potential of replacing all meat that fast food joints use, and all ground beef, which I'm hazarding a guess makes up over half of the meat used that is bovine.

Delicious malnutrition. Mmm.

 

[Synobun]

No.


Call me purist, but I like the kind of meat that's made of meat.

... But it is the same meat that you usually eat.

 

[_random_]

Erm, why? You don't eat the bones anyways, and regardless of your strict tastes, vat beef would have the potential of replacing all meat that fast food joints use, and all ground beef, which I'm hazarding a guess makes up over half of the meat used that is bovine.

Steak on the bone is much better than steak off. Gets you more even heat distribution and better flavor. I really do like the idea of lab grown meat; I'm just not sure it's versatile or inexpensive enough to be economically feasible. Even if you can replace fast food beef (which seems reasonable enough if any fast food restaurants would be willing to pay for more expensive beef liable to gross their consumers out), there would be plenty of people hankering for a higher quality ground.