Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
cannonball

Do you want fries with your lab burger?

Recommended Posts

I heard about that last week. Apparently it costs quite a pretty penny, so I'm not eating it: I'm quite relieved to be honest. >:-P

Share this post


Link to post

It think it might solve a dilemma for people who enjoy the taste and nutritional benefits of meat, but are forced into being vegans or vegetarians because they feel uncomfortable about the ethics of it all.

Having said that, I imagine it tasting like any generic supermarket burger: a vaguely beef-y flavour but with something very artificial about it that's the result of additives which were produced in labs anyway. Unless they've perfectly replicated the flavour of a real beefburger, it doesn't appetise.

Share this post


Link to post

I want something's flesh. Something that once wandered around with thoughts of its own, trying to survive as best it could in its environment. Animals are tasty because they have souls.

This synthi-meat frightens and offends me.

Share this post


Link to post
Jayextee said:

I want something's flesh. Something that once wandered around with thoughts of its own, trying to survive as best it could in its environment. Animals are tasty because they have souls.

This synthi-meat frightens and offends me.

Probably take synthetic meat over steroid infused horse meat to be honest.
Though give me a pure Aberdeen Angus burger any day.

Share this post


Link to post
Technician said:

Have you tried Islam?


Not really. I considered slaughtering one for my burgers, but that's a religious hate crime. There's always one naysayer.

Share this post


Link to post

I've heard it costs lodsemone so no, I don't think McDonalds is going to be selling it for 99p any time soon.

cannonball said:

Probably take synthetic meat over steroid infused horse meat to be honest.


What if they "accidentally" take the cells from a steroid infused horse?

Share this post


Link to post
SavageCorona said:

I've heard it costs lodsemone so no, I don't think McDonalds is going to be selling it for 99p any time soon.

If this does take off and production begins on a large scale, the cost will fall dramatically. Given the research costs and the very small scale development, of course it costs a lot at the moment. Like all scientific developments (for example pharmaceuticals)

Share this post


Link to post

Then again, if Soylent Green is to be believed, "real" meat is sooner or later going to be a luxury, and all the average Joe will be able to afford will be pink slime, -formerly- pet/animal-grade cuts, or "ersatz meat" of various kinds -e.g. soy, beans etc. or even insects or the meat of fast-breeding animals like rats.




Synthetic meat will probably occupy an intermediate niche between low-grade cuts/meat byproducts and "good" meat cuts.

Share this post


Link to post
Jayextee said:

Something that once wandered around with thoughts of its own, trying to survive as best it could in its environment.


Better stop buying supermarket meats than. Most "industrial grown" animals are barely allowed to move and are forced into overfeeding. Even "free range" usually just means they roam around in a shelter/giant litterbox instead of being caged.

Share this post


Link to post

As long as I'm eating something that once had the capacity to feel emotions, I'm fine.

A lot of you guys seem to be safe from cannibalism, then.

Share this post


Link to post
Technician said:

Have you tried Islam?

Actually now that I think about it, this meat probably wouldn't be considered kosher.

Share this post


Link to post

I don't think the Jewish would be too interested in this. Well, to be fair, it isn't exactly "slaughtered", but then again it doesn't fit a "prescribed manner". Guess it's dependent on conservative/non-conservative Jewish to make their own call.

Share this post


Link to post

Do not talk about religion in topic about food, I do not care about your stupid religions.. it is all garbage.

I want the best food on the earth and you all are too low to have such option.

And if there is ever going to be cannibalism, then I should be the only one allowed to eat other humans.

Share this post


Link to post

First thing I thought from the title was this thread. This seems on a whole new level of scientific fuckery (advancement??). I see how this is supposed to help out with a growing food crisis, but why NOT focus on getting people to eat less meat?

Share this post


Link to post

This actually kind of makes me wonder what the vegan/vegetarian base would think of a product. I doubt they would ever eat it, but their cries of "stop slaughtering animals" would become invalidated. Needless to say this might just be the first step in Food Replicators ala Star Trek, which means I'm all for it.

Share this post


Link to post
DoOmEr4LiFe said:

This actually kind of makes me wonder what the vegan/vegetarian base would think of a product. I doubt they would ever eat it, but their cries of "stop slaughtering animals" would become invalidated. Needless to say this might just be the first step in Food Replicators ala Star Trek, which means I'm all for it.


I hear a lot of vegan/vegetarians admit they actually really enjoy the taste of meat, but are opposed to eating it for ethical reasons. I guess this will be a good alternative for them.

Share this post


Link to post
DoOmEr4LiFe said:

This actually kind of makes me wonder what the vegan/vegetarian base would think of a product. I doubt they would ever eat it, but their cries of "stop slaughtering animals" would become invalidated. Needless to say this might just be the first step in Food Replicators ala Star Trek, which means I'm all for it.


There's also a number of other reasons why someone wouldn't support the meat industry. Methane emissions from industry cattle are higher than our own. Yes, this means that cows are literally farting us to death.

Share this post


Link to post
Kontra Kommando said:

I hear a lot of vegan/vegetarians admit they actually really enjoy the taste of meat, but are opposed to eating it for ethical reasons.

Membrain said:

Methane emissions from industry cattle are higher than our own. Yes, this means that cows are literally farting us to death.


Yeah, I am aware of that. I don't personally know any vegan/vegetarians but I'm sure they all have their reasons for choosing that particular diet.

Share this post


Link to post

All our meat is practically grown in a lab anyway. Oh sure, most hamburgers once had the ability to moo, but there's so much shit that goes on already that I hardly see this as a major leap. Shoot, given the current state of affairs, I wouldn't mind chowing down on a test tube burger myself, assuming they ever perfect the technique (we're still a long way off from this being commercially viable, and there are some kinks that still need to be worked out).

It's not even that I'm pro-animal or have a problem eating real meat, either. It's just given how cattle is raised these days, the shit's already so highly processed that it hardly makes a difference to me whether the hamburger came from a cow or a lab.

Share this post


Link to post
Kirby said:

First thing I thought from the title was this thread. This seems on a whole new level of scientific fuckery (advancement??). I see how this is supposed to help out with a growing food crisis, but why NOT focus on getting people to eat less meat?

because you already got your genetically modified cabbage. And now it's my turn.

Share this post


Link to post

I personally bet that the intended niche for "synthmeat" will simply die out before it appears, unable to stand the competition: it will probably be more expensive and less tasty than ersatz meat products based on soy, beans or even synthetic proteins, and certainly more expensive and less tasty than "cheap" meats like poultry, farmed rodents etc.

Trying to use it as an "intermediate" between cheaper meats/meat substitutes and more expensive, less efficiently farmed types of red meat (beef etc.) will not have the intended effect, IMO. Because someone determined (and able) to pay more for his "meat product" than the average prole/Joe/coolie/whatever, will prefer going the extra mile and get a real beef steak or pork ribs.

Share this post


Link to post
BloodyAcid said:

I don't think the Jewish would be too interested in this. Well, to be fair, it isn't exactly "slaughtered", but then again it doesn't fit a "prescribed manner". Guess it's dependent on conservative/non-conservative Jewish to make their own call.


In my experience, few American Jews (myself included) actually keep kosher to begin with. My guess is that those who still keep kosher in modern times (in America at least) would be more likely to continue eating animals as a source of meat simply because it is traditional and is what they ate growing up, as opposed to rationalizing the technicalities of whether or not a "lab burger" is kosher.

Share this post


Link to post

Well, the definition for "kosher" or "halal" meat is that an animal must:

  • Split the hoove: this includes mostungulates like cows, sheep etc. but excludes others like the horse, which have a single-piece hoove.
  • Chew the cud: this only includes ruminants, so animals like e.g. deer that have split hooves but don't ruminate, are out. Of course this rules out carnivores/omnivores as well, and of course pigs (they don't ruminate).
A piece of 'meat' grown in a lab never had hooves to split, nor did it ever ruminate. On the other hand, it could be derived from animals that are perfectly kosher/halal...so if the animal is OK, any piece or derivate of it should be OK too, right? Kinda like the doublethink there's with photographs/movies: photos are "bad" because they freeze time, while movies are OK because they preserve reality (or so I've been told by someone who had a "light" exposure to Islam...go figure).

Needless to say, Allah knows best. Praise Allah!

Apparently, I disagree with practicing muslims, by being more severe and literal in the application of the Word of the Qu'ran. Maybe I could start a new career as a hardcore Muslim lecturer? I wonder if there are any openings in e.g. Iran....

Share this post


Link to post
Membrain said:

Yes, this means that cows are literally farting us to death.

So eating them constitutes self defense. Right?

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×