to ask vegetarians if they would eat lab grown meat?

[vitamink]

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.

doesn't appeal to me, i don't like the taste of meat.

Kittyloves- thats an interesting point!

I also think the link with Margaret Atwoods Chickienobs is a red herring (sorry) as they were actually horribly altered living chickens, whereas lab grown meat should be just a slab of muscle cells.

I think it sounds very interesting, now just to find a way to persuade my dcs to eat it (or anything else nutritious...)

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

I didn't make mine for ethical reasons - I find it weird that people will say 'oh one day I might be ethical'...why am I not allowed to think this is bizarre?

She didn't say "one day I might be ethical" though. She said she's debating becoming a vegetarian for ethical reasons. That doesn't mean she currently has no ethics at all, it means that she may soon embrace the ethics of a cause she didn't previously. We can't all support every cause and the causes we support often change.

Is it much different to quorn, which is also grown in big tanks?

quorn is vile.

I do like a good veggie sausage or burger. But I have found the burgers I like least are the ones that are meant to taste like meat. I like a good nut or veggie or bean patty and the only resemblance to meat is the patty shape.

so, no, i probably wouldn't.

Clearly not. Its not just the slaughter of animals but its not a healthy diet anyway

(Im going to reference this - World Health Organisation recognises the fact that “Red meat consumption is linked to early mortality"... and "leading cancer research bodies advise on limiting meat consumption significantly, such as the World Cancer Research Fund who point out that “10% of bowel cancers cases in the UK could be prevented through reducing the amount of processed meat we eat”and recommend dietary changes such as “replacing minced red meat with minced quorn or use lentils or beans instead.”

(World Health Organisation: Public Health Roundup, (2012), www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/90/4/12-010412/en/
Pan, Sun, Bernstein,. Schulze, Manson, Meir, Willett and Hu, (2012), ‘Red Meat Consumption and Mortality’ in JAMA Internal Medicine, 172, (7), Available at archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1134845
The World Cancer Research Fund www.wcrf-uk.org/cancer_prevention/recommendations/meat_and_cancer.php)

Also how massively first world to be spending money on such research instead of accepting just not eating meat.

I always have this question about veganism. You have vegan sausages, vegan cheese, vegan butter, etc. i know the point is to not consume animal product, but to replace all it it with artificial stuff? Not really makes sense

Interesting question.

I've never eaten meat in my life (brought up veggie) although I do eat some fish now.

If there were no safety concerns about it, and if I could get over my initial disgust, and if it tasted nice, then yes I'd definitely eat lab meat. It's a good idea.

Ah but vegan butter is just olive spread which is natural, and vegan cheese isnt often used. I think alot of vegan food is mostly natural, its just avoiding the dairy stuff (eg coconut milk/almond milk etc etc)

When I was veggie (17 yrs) It was for env. impact reasons. I doubt the lab-meat is lower impact than non-meat foods, so I don't think it would make a difference to me.

Now I'm not a veggie but try to meat that has some ethical* advantage over bog standard (my concept of ethical which is probably a 100% fail to Animal Rightist Veggies).

So I would now consider lab-grown meat now, back to the env. and social impact aspects.

We should be harvesting insects, really, fantastic and env. friendly source of good quality protein potentially.

(sorry, should be using coconut....)

I wouldn't, no. Haven't eaten meat for 35 years, and never enjoyed the texture of any meat substitutes. I liked eating meat beforehand, but it was never beef or bacon that I craved. Now, if someone could synthesize bone and turn it into gelatine, I'd be first at the door for some midget gems. Vegetarian sweets never quite hit the spot texture-wise, and the ones that come closest are ruinously expensive.

I think my DP would. He doesn't like the impact of farming practices as the primary reason for not eating meat. I'm not sure he would ever sit down to a big steak, but if there was a stew with a bit of lab-chorizo in it he might eat that.

I'm not a vegetarian and I wouldn't eat lab grown meat. Yuck.

The current model of global meat consumption is unustainable so this is great news. Personally, I'd eat lab chicken because I chicken is the only meat I occasionally miss after 25 years of non-meat eating. But I find red meat revolting now so wouldn't be touching that. DP would, though.

Ethically, yes I would. I can't see any problem with it. I tend not to use meat replacements, so it would be a change in cooking habits. I wouldn't mind a bit of realistic bacon!

In China, there are already meat replacements that are astounding like the real thing. I'm told that quorn sausage rolls are also getting very close (the rest of their products perhaps not so much). So it can be done right now, with the technologies that we already have.

Isn't there some kind of mock duck you can buy that is meant to taste quite like real duck? I'm not sure how it's made but I think it's a gluten based product.

Seitan is awesome stuff, and really easy to make :) Its what mock duck and a lot of the other fake meat products are made from.

No. To me the idea of eating animal flesh is disgusting, and I also enjoy the health benefits of not eating it.

If it helped reduce farming and slaughter of animals then I would see it as a positive thing. It would probably be consumed by non-vegetarians mostly I believe, who perhaps want to reduce their environmental impact, and the cruely involved in farming livestock.

Ah, seitan is the stuff! Well I'd be far more interested to try some mock meat than lab grown meat.

In theory I would. I'm am vegetarian purely for animal welfare reasons. So if meat doesn't require an animal to suffer or die I have no reason to avoid it. However I've been vegetarian for so long (30 plus years) that the idea of eating flesh repels me. I'd keep an open mind on it though and may even try it.

Do you have a Chinese supermarket near you Squoosh? You can buy marinated flavoured seitan for about a quid a tin.

I always have this question about veganism. You have vegan sausages, vegan cheese, vegan butter, etc. i know the point is to not consume animal product, but to replace all it it with artificial stuff? Not really makes sense

Of course it makes sense. If your aim is not to eat animal products, then it makes perfect sense to eat things that aren't animal products.

What do you mean by "artificial" anyway? Foods that are shaped like other foods?

I have a really excellent Chinese supermarket near me Saucy, was planning a trip there at the weekend so will look out for the seitan. I'm intrigued by it now.