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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask vegetarians if they would eat lab grown meat?

112 replies

vitamink · 18/06/2015 18:22

The cost of lab grown meat has apparently come down from over $300,000 to $11. If this could replace meat harvested from the killing of animals but would still use animal genetics at a microscopic level to grow these burgers (without harming live animals), would you eat them? The same goes with genetically produced milk, grown by combining genetically modified yeast?

I'm not a vegetarian and I would definitely eat lab grown meat. I think this is the future of food.

OP posts:
dominogocatgo · 18/06/2015 21:19

Could it be Halal ?

ChuckBiscuits · 18/06/2015 21:19

Chuck, this is for you in response to your delightful comment.

Well, it's an interesting point isn't it? If you feel that it is an ethical issue, then why wait? Just do it. If not, then don't. But to say that one day you might be ethical is pointless.

Discopanda · 18/06/2015 21:20

Nope, one of the reasons I became veggie was not liking the taste or texture of meat. I don't crave meat and I try to keep my diet as natural as possible.

mickeysminnie · 18/06/2015 21:22

NO!!! Not if it was free!

maddening · 18/06/2015 21:27

No but only as I have ibs and despite being veggie since 17 (now 37) I did try meat once about 13 years ago and spent the next 5 hours in pain so I fear my body would reject it - other than that if it was safe to eat then I wouldn't see it as a problem.

GoringBit · 18/06/2015 21:31

I'm another meat-eater who would go vegetarian before eating lab-grown meat.

pamish · 18/06/2015 22:04

Veggie for 45 years, for ethical reasons. I would probably try it, out of curiosity. It would maybe make me ill, when I used to eat the occasional bit of meat (mum was convinced I needed it...), as my meat-digesting bugs had died out I would be wobbly for a bit. What's the point of it? They must have to feed it other food for it to make new food.

.

SmallMustard · 18/06/2015 22:11

No, eating meat makes me feel physically sick.

Pippioddstocking · 18/06/2015 22:12

Having just eaten a quorn lasagne I would say yes .

kungfupannda · 18/06/2015 22:12

Vegetarian for 28 years. No chance! But I'm veggie because I hate meat. I ate a tiny amount under protest until I was 12, but nothing since then.

The5DayChicken · 18/06/2015 22:57

Chuck, why the snarky comment towards a poster who's considering making the choice that you once did?

cariadlet · 18/06/2015 23:00

I've been vegan for over 20 years and was veggie for about 10 years before that (for animal welfare reasons). I don't think I could eat lab meat after so many years. It would just seem weird and wrong.

I'm not sure about the ethics. It's clearly better than meat eating as you aren't eating a dead animal, but I'd want to know where the genetic material came from originally. I think it would probably be compatible with being a veggie, but not with being vegan.

038THETA · 18/06/2015 23:07

no
I think I am healthier without eating meat and I dont enjoy meat.

KittyLovesPaintingOhYes · 18/06/2015 23:08

I'm finding the 'yuck' response fascinating, I can't imagine the process would be much grosser than the one that gives us bran flakes or other heavily processed foods. No it's not 'natural', but surely that's the point?

Not a vegetarian and I would eat it, but I've worked in the industry for decades and have long lost my own yuck response!

trixymalixy · 18/06/2015 23:15

I'm a meat eater and would be wary of eating lab grown meat. I'm also a Margaret Atwood fan!!

workadurka · 18/06/2015 23:17

Yes I'd eat it but probably wouldn't buy it. More that I'd encourage my meat eating friends to eat it over non lab meat, and would (as part of this) be happy for them to serve it to me.

The amount of meat we as a nation and a planet consume is completely, unequivocally unsustainable and anything that helps reduce this consumption is a good thing in my book.

038THETA · 18/06/2015 23:43

we could end up with a scenario where lab grown meat is far cheaper than farmed meat

surely it's a winner on all fronts, no sentient being has suffered via the factory farming process, far more energy efficient to produce.
For those who enjoy eating meat what's not to like?

sunflower49 · 18/06/2015 23:48

I don't eat meat for health as well as moral reasons so if it was the same nutritonally then no I wouldn't, as a rule.

However if a food is cruelty free, and I could guarantee that and was on a 'cheat/unhealthy' day , maybe.

038THETA · 18/06/2015 23:53

and thanks for the link Vitamink, the channel looks interesting I have subscribed :o

ToysRLuv · 19/06/2015 00:04

I am a veggie and would eat it, absolutely. It's the way of the future. At the moment, I eat quorn every couple of days or so. While I don't really miss meat, I sometimes feel like I want chunks of filling protein.

kali110 · 19/06/2015 00:07

Yes i would.be interested to know what it tastes like.

FyreFly · 19/06/2015 00:12

I'd be happy to give it a go in a few years time once any unintended side effects have been hammered out.

Meat substitutes such as quorn are already artificially grown, I don't understand the squeamishness myself. This is just a different kind of artificial meat substitute. Labs are by and large very clean. I don't know what the environmental cost is to produce it though.

squoosh · 19/06/2015 00:15

Quorn is exactly why I wouldn't eat lab grown meat. Vile stuff that causes vile allergic reactions.

MamaMotherMummy · 19/06/2015 00:19

NO Smile

Laidbackorlazy · 19/06/2015 00:33

I think from a climate change point if view, it's interesting. From an ethical standpoint I could probably justify eating it, but I don't fancy it, I have to say.