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I predict that the biggest market for lab-grown meat (in vitro cultivation) is going to be growing for meat grown from the cells of animals that aren't economic
by avar 8y ago
I predict that the biggest market for lab-grown meat (in vitro cultivation) is going to be growing for meat grown from the cells of animals that aren't economical, practical or even legal as meat today.
People seem to be assuming that just because they mostly eat beef and chicken today that they're going to be buying lab grown beef and chicken, but ultimately they only eat that because it's economical to raise those animals with current production methods.
With in vitro cultivation there's no reason you wouldn't have say elephant meat one day, and a blue whale the day after that. You could even have some human meat, it's not like growing some muscle fibers in a test tube is unethical.
Initially there'll be a big market for the novelty of exotic meats, but over the long term it's highly unlikely that the meats we have today optimized for mass production will objectively taste better than potential alternatives, or even that the market will restrict itself to naturally occurring species of animals.
You'll be able to buy tuna with the texture of pork, or any other possible combination of tastes and textures.
- bigcostooge2 8y agoMercury free tuna would make my life so, so much better. Please.
- ci5er 8y agoCompared to camel, giraffe, horse, zebra, gazelle, whale, dolphin, human, shark, eel, (most) bugs and worms, elephant, ... etc., I've got to say that whoever came up with pigs and cows were doing their job properly. They taste better than all of the above.
- raving-richard 8y agoOf these, I've eaten horse, whale, shark and eel. Actually, probably I've also eaten bugs. The shark that I've eaten is perfectly good, and better than many other fish types (taste wise). Eel was good, but has to be prepared appropriately. Try it Japanese style. The other two, not worth it. But again, probably something to do with preparation. Perhaps the way the French prepare horse is better than the way the Japanese do? I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to eat human flesh. I'm surprised you've listed it. Other animals that taste good include crocodile and kangaroo. My point being, that taste is very subjective. You'll find people who want to eat those flavors, but don't want to eat the real thing.
- ci5er 8y agoI lived in Japan for 10 years. You like roo? I like crock and gator (and snake and squirrel, but not armadillo), but never took a liking to the former. EDIT: My point is simply: for me... nothing really stacks up to cow flesh. EDIT2: I suspect we don't disagree about the generic "I've eaten everything, at least once, man" conclusions very much. (Although I still find shark to be about a smelly slab of meat as a bear or a badger. Don't even get me going on pure carnivores like fox or coyote).
- mikekchar 8y agoI'm actually shocked. Have you tasted basashi (raw horse meat) against raw wagyu (Japanese style beef)? IMHO basashi is much better. It has an almost "super-cow" flavour. One thing that's important, though. Most izakayas don't serve enough basashi to justify having it fresh. They freeze it. Not only that, but they serve it still frozen. Basashi needs to come up to temperature. Similar to beef, frozen horse meat sometimes has a tendency break down and pick up a liver flavour. A lot depends on the way it is slaughtered and bled -- most basashi actually comes from Canada and there are very few slaughter houses in Canada. If you go to Kumamoto and go to an izakaya that specialised in Basashi, you should be able to get good fresh, Japanese horse meat. It's amazing (again IMHO). Edit: Fix error in describing slaughtering...
- ci5er 8y agoSorry - late responding. I can't speak to quality. What I had was chilled. I don't know if it was fresh or frozen beforehand. It was nice. But compared to even raw maguro, I don't know if I would have preferred it. Now - cooked - it's like a steak that you might get in NYC without quite enough fat on it, to melt into the meat. I have not been to Kumamoto for years (more than a decade?) - I will take you at your word and go do this the next time I go. Thank you.
- avar 8y agoI'll have to take your word that humans aren't as tasty as pigs or cows. But coming from somewhere where horses and whales are regularly eaten I can assure you that if you're used to the taste and live in a culture that knows how to prepare those meats that you'd definitely prefer them any many instances. What diet people prefer has a lot of inertia. If you presented say a Briton in the 1850s with spicy Indian food they wouldn't like it in anything like the numbers their descendants do today. Food's an acquired taste, and takes a while to take hold. So you can't just say try gazelle and declare "meh". Which goes to the point I'm making. I don't think that in the year 3000 when lab-grown meat is perfect (can grow muscle fiber, bone, fat etc.) and indistinguishable from the "real" thing nobody will order up pork or beef. Rather, there's going to be the same growth in different sorts of products at the expense of the absolute market share of any one incumbent as we see in beer, soft drinks cookies etc. for the past decades. Now that by-and-large doesn't happen with meats because raising live animals presents you with all sorts of scalability and production limitations.
- dalbasal 8y agoCamel, horse, shark & eel are pretty common foods. Shark, in australia, is the most common fish-and-chips. It tastes/feels in the neighborhood of cod, the white flaky sea fish that even unadventurous eaters like. Eel & camel are popular but not economical to produce. Beef is, IMO, one of the blandest red meats. I prefer venison and much prefer mutton.
- Cactus2018 8y ago> or even legal Food of the Gods, by Arthur C Clarke (1964) https://write.as/r9ov30n76ib5u.md https://write.as/r9ov30n76ib5u.md
- zizee 8y agoI wonder if they produced human lab-grown-meat, how many people would eat it out of curiosity.