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FINALLY an article that looks at the basic scientific fundamentals of this. Lab-grown meat, similar to carbon removal tech, is currently super hyped in the main
by shafyy 5y ago
FINALLY an article that looks at the basic scientific fundamentals of this. Lab-grown meat, similar to carbon removal tech, is currently super hyped in the mainstream media.
Like Pat Brown, founder of Impossible usually says, paraphrasing: "There is no such thing as lab-grown meat, and there will never be. If somebody figures out how to grow cells reliably in a bioreactor, it will make much more sense to sell it as organs for use in medicine than to eat it (financially)."
It just doesn't make sense to grow meat in the lab if we can make it from plant proteins directly. Period.
What makes me sad and angry about the startups and billions of VC money that goes into this is that we need to reduce emissions NOW. We don't have time to fuck around with sci-fi tech that maybe brings down the price of lab-grown meat to a level that the top 10% of the population might afford it, in 10 or 20 years. It has been proven that there are great ways to make meat alternatives from plant proteins directly, we should invest time and money into expanding that!
On a side note, I think for a lot of people the existence of research and startups on lab-grown meat is an excuse to continue eating meat. They say that once it's there, I'll of course switch over. But they are not ready to switch over to alternatives like Impossible burgers that are just as good now.
- basisword 5y agoMost people aren’t even open to reducing their meat intake a little never mind replacing it. We need solutions that allow people to continue doing what they’re doing with minimal adjustment. This is at least an attempt at that. This is the problem I feel with a lot of the current environmental movement. It’s loud, brash, and only seems to offer unrealistic solutions for most people. It ignores the people that can’t make changes like giving up their cars, buying new electric cars, going vegan etc. It ignores that humans want a better life than the previous generation. While we all need to make personal changes (and most people are in small ways at least)the majority of the impact will be made through new technical solutions becoming more affordable and just generally better options than older carbon emitting options.
- shafyy 5y agoI agree. what I'm saying is that it's possible to make meat out of plants direclty, without the need for lab-grown meat. If you won't replace your burger with an Impossible burger, you also won't replace it with a lab-grown one.
- basisword 5y agoI’m not so sure. I think if people hear it comes from plants in anyway (even if it tastes the same as lab grown meat) they’ll refuse it. “Lab grown meat - just like the real thing!” feels like it would have much better uptake among meat eaters.
- habosa 5y agoI'm a "you can't convince me to eat less meat" person but I find myself voluntarily ordering an Impossible Burger when it's on the menu. It's generally within $1 of the real burger price and I truly think it tastes just as good. It's not very close to replacing a nice steak or other more luxury meat products, but it's a really impressive start and I am rooting for them!
- dagw 5y agoIt's generally within $1 of the real burger price and I truly think it tastes just as good. Especially for fast food burgers I think this would be a real option. Even as meat eater with no plans of going vegitarian I think the Burger King meatless Whopper is in no way worse the the meat version. If McDonalds, Burger King etc. made the meatless Whopper and Big Mac $0.50-1.00 cheaper than the meat version I think you would see a significant switch.
- krrrh 5y agoAlternately: we don’t have time to fuck around with trying to convince a significant portion of humanity to transform their diets and toss all the cultural significance that goes along with foods we’ve eaten for thousands of years. Impossible burgers are fine as far as veggie burgers go, but few would call them “just as good”. Raise everyone’s taxes by 1% and put all the additional revenue into replacing coal plants with modern nuclear. Mixing up the goal of GHG gas reduction with all sorts of other long term poltical, conservation, and cultural ideas is only slowing us down.
- novaRom 5y agoBioreactors is good environment for bacteria and viruses because they don't provide same level defense as immune system in living organisms.
- ianbicking 5y agoThe Impossible direction is really another take on the same idea. People are excited about lab-grown meat because it "shortcuts" all the animal stuff. Meat substitutes are trying to make something with attributes of meat from plants... just like these animals construct their meat from the plant-based feed. So can Impossible or other companies figure out how to select, refine, ferment, and otherwise process plants directly into something with meat-like attributes? And do so more efficiently than lab-grown meat? It seems more than likely: even if there are many challenges in getting from the OK meat substitutes of today to a full meat substitute it still seems much easier than a lab-based cell culture process.
- thehappypm 5y agoHave you had Impossible yet? It's seriously good stuff.
- rdlecler1 5y agoThis is just wrong; The cell quality needed for organs vs a meat slurry are totally different. You don’t even need the cells to be alive in the final serving.