The trick is what to grow it on. Previous lab meat experiments used fetal calf serum. Engineering meat directly on a large scale is probably going to happen be

The trick is what to grow it on. Previous lab meat experiments used fetal calf serum. Engineering meat directly on a large scale is probably going to happen before a significant percentage of people ethically convert to animal-free lifestyles. It would make a huge difference in human-perpetrated cruelty, as the U.S. currently slaughters 10 billion land animals and around 15 billion aquatic animals (not counting by-catch) every year. However, general consensus among farm animal rescues/sanctuaries is that egg and milk operations are the cruellest, moreso than beef. Thus, contrary to popular belief, eating steak while avoiding milk and eggs puts more of a dent into animal cruelty than becoming an ovo-lacto vegetarian. Another common misconception is that fish is healthy; due to environmental pollution, however, fish now frequently contains unsafe levels of mercury and other heavy metals; plus DDT, dioxin, PCBs, etc. This is due to concentration as you go up the food chain, where the fish that humans eat have several orders of magnitude more contaminants than the water they swim in. DHA and EPA, the Omega-3 fatty acids that are present in certain types of fish oil, are also now available in oil from marine algae. E.g. http://www.water4.net/ http://www.water4.net/ (this brand has no discernible taste, unlike some others). Brain food is probably a good idea for hackers.