8 ms·

Does it taste like despair? Seriously though, that's always my first thought when I read a story about something like this. It's like my brain can't help but c

Does it taste like despair? Seriously though, that's always my first thought when I read a story about something like this. It's like my brain can't help but cringe of the thought of eating something made this way, even if it's irrational.

aninteger 13y ago
I assume you are talking about MorningStar or Boca products. They aren't that bad are they? I eat a lot of red meat. Probably for both lunch and sometimes dinner almost every single day. It's gotten to a point to where cooking a meal without meat is an extreme challenge.
icebraining 13y ago
We eat things made this way every day. Almost every food product nowadays contains synthetic components. This is just a step further.
- sdoering 13y ago
  Does this make anything any better? I don't know about a lot of others, but I cringe as well, when reading such a headline. There was once a nice Eureka-Episode, regarding this "just a step further". And I just wouldn't want to be a human guinea pig for that kind of "non clinical trial".
  - div 13y ago
    Does women being allowed to vote make anything better if you're a man ? If this could become a viable alternative to regular meat, it has the capability of reducing a massive amount of suffering.
wikiburner 13y ago
Here's some reviews from food critics on the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23576143 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23576143
- gpvos 13y ago
  I applaud the idea on general principle, but the last paragraph of this article spells that it is probably too late already: > The latest United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report on the future of agriculture[0] indicates that most of the predicted growth in demand for meat from China and Brazil has already happened and many Indians are wedded to their largely vegetarian diets for cultural and culinary reasons. While I think it would be a good idea because we should actually strive to reduce our production of greenhouse gases, the above paragraph indicates that it's unlikely to become economically viable. [0] http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/ap106e/ap106e.pdf http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/ap106e/ap106e.pdf
theklub 13y ago
The prime rib potato chips are really bizarre to eat. Its scary.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- VMG 13y ago
  "Cruelty-Free" is a selling point today.
- VLM 13y ago
  At both food stores I shop at, there are already freezer sections of fake meat. Mostly (entirely?) based on extremely heavily processed soy. I would imagine this different form of fake meat would sneak into that same section. I would bet you could sell more "real" fake meat to vegetarians sick of flavored tofu easier than selling "real" fake meat to omnivores used to the real stuff. Back when I used to eat soy, I occasionally would eat "steaklets" which seem to have disappeared from the market. They were basically soy bean hashbrown "pucks" with meat flavoring. They were strangely good, but by no means could you confuse them with "meat". I would expect it to be much easier to adulterate "real" steaklets with fake "real" meat than to adulterate a genuine steak with fake meat.
  - steveklabnik 13y ago
    There are also fake meats made out of a hell of a lot of gluten. There is some pretty good stuff that is actually confusable with meat; Veggie Grill on the west coast has chicken sandwiches that are damn good.
  - asciimo 13y ago
    First off, many vegetarians don't eat junk food out of the freezer; there are many wholesome and delicious alternatives to "flavored tofu." Second, many celebrate lab meat for its potential reduction of animal exploitation, but that doesn't mean that they will eat it. The preference for it is often lost early on.
- mistercow 13y ago
  Do factory farms not give you the chills?
  - 13y ago
rorrr2 13y ago
I'm the opposite, I love meat, but hate the animal suffering. Even if it tastes half as good and costs around the same, I will switch.
- prawn 13y ago
  "I love mean, but hate the animal suffering." Awkward typo!
- sdoering 13y ago
  Maybe, just maybe buying animal-products, where the animals didn't suffer, where they were raised species-appropriate, would help, as it would be a ecological signal as well. If more people would do that, a lot more incentives would be there, to not let animals suffer just for human consumption. Since I switched to only eating animal products, where I know, how the animals lived, I do eat a lot less meat. i do pay a lot more (and I do that consciously). And I have the benefit, that it also does taste so much better, that I really enjoy this in more then one way, when I eat it (sometimes pork-steak, sometimes ham, sometimes goat-salami). We buy at a local farm, that raise, slaughter and process the meat all by themselves, and produce at least 50% of the food that is needed for raising the animals on the farm itself. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioland#Certification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioland#Certification) So for me this was a viable alternative - but I could understand, if this is not possible in other circumstances of life.
  - paganel 13y ago
    > Maybe, just maybe buying animal-products, where the animals didn't suffer, where they were raised species-appropriate, would help, as it would be a ecological signal as well. This is very hard to do in most of the "first world" places because agriculture or raising animals doesn't scale that well unless you do it on an industrial scale. Now, you and me and a couple of others maybe can afford to pay extra for meat products, but for the vast majority of people who expect a shawarma not to cost more than 2-3 euros the reality is bleaker.
    - wprl 13y ago
VMG 13y ago
wait until you find out about Castoreum..
rattray 13y ago
To you, yes, it would probably take like despair the first several times you were to eat it. To me, and to other vegetarians, it would probably just taste better than the weaker meat substitutes we're used to.
eddieroger 13y ago
Wow, not every day you get a Better Off Ted reference, especially when I'm rewatching that show on Netflix right now.
Shivetya 13y ago
Why do I think I am the only person who connected your first sentence with Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? An Ameglian Cow? Still trying to determine why they must replicate it exactly, taste and texture should be sufficient
MattGrommes 13y ago
Well, once they get the technology for proper fat inclusion in the meat, they can make it taste however they want. But your (and by extension, the public's) mental "cringe" is probably going to be a much bigger hurdle for them to jump over than the technology was.
- hmsimha 13y ago
  I think it's been demonstrated time and time again that with enough monetary interest, the public will happily gulp down whatever slop is thrown their way. If this can be supplied cheaper than real beef, I think the fast food corporations will switch to it. Sergey Brin throwing his support behind the synthetic meat movement has really given me a new hope for the viability of a readily available consumer synthetic meat product in the near future.
mayanksinghal 13y ago
> Does it taste like despair? Synthetic meat doesn't, at least, taste like screams.

aninteger 13y ago

I assume you are talking about MorningStar or Boca products. They aren't that bad are they? I eat a lot of red meat. Probably for both lunch and sometimes dinner almost every single day. It's gotten to a point to where cooking a meal without meat is an extreme challenge.

icebraining 13y ago

We eat things made this way every day. Almost every food product nowadays contains synthetic components. This is just a step further.

sdoering 13y ago
Does this make anything any better? I don't know about a lot of others, but I cringe as well, when reading such a headline. There was once a nice Eureka-Episode, regarding this "just a step further". And I just wouldn't want to be a human guinea pig for that kind of "non clinical trial".
- div 13y ago
  Does women being allowed to vote make anything better if you're a man ? If this could become a viable alternative to regular meat, it has the capability of reducing a massive amount of suffering.

wikiburner 13y ago

Here's some reviews from food critics on the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23576143 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23576143

gpvos 13y ago
I applaud the idea on general principle, but the last paragraph of this article spells that it is probably too late already: > The latest United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report on the future of agriculture[0] indicates that most of the predicted growth in demand for meat from China and Brazil has already happened and many Indians are wedded to their largely vegetarian diets for cultural and culinary reasons. While I think it would be a good idea because we should actually strive to reduce our production of greenhouse gases, the above paragraph indicates that it's unlikely to become economically viable. [0] http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/ap106e/ap106e.pdf http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/ap106e/ap106e.pdf

theklub 13y ago

The prime rib potato chips are really bizarre to eat. Its scary.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

VMG 13y ago
"Cruelty-Free" is a selling point today.
VLM 13y ago
At both food stores I shop at, there are already freezer sections of fake meat. Mostly (entirely?) based on extremely heavily processed soy. I would imagine this different form of fake meat would sneak into that same section. I would bet you could sell more "real" fake meat to vegetarians sick of flavored tofu easier than selling "real" fake meat to omnivores used to the real stuff. Back when I used to eat soy, I occasionally would eat "steaklets" which seem to have disappeared from the market. They were basically soy bean hashbrown "pucks" with meat flavoring. They were strangely good, but by no means could you confuse them with "meat". I would expect it to be much easier to adulterate "real" steaklets with fake "real" meat than to adulterate a genuine steak with fake meat.
- steveklabnik 13y ago
  There are also fake meats made out of a hell of a lot of gluten. There is some pretty good stuff that is actually confusable with meat; Veggie Grill on the west coast has chicken sandwiches that are damn good.
- asciimo 13y ago
  First off, many vegetarians don't eat junk food out of the freezer; there are many wholesome and delicious alternatives to "flavored tofu." Second, many celebrate lab meat for its potential reduction of animal exploitation, but that doesn't mean that they will eat it. The preference for it is often lost early on.
mistercow 13y ago
Do factory farms not give you the chills?
- 13y ago

rorrr2 13y ago

I'm the opposite, I love meat, but hate the animal suffering. Even if it tastes half as good and costs around the same, I will switch.

prawn 13y ago
"I love mean, but hate the animal suffering." Awkward typo!
sdoering 13y ago
Maybe, just maybe buying animal-products, where the animals didn't suffer, where they were raised species-appropriate, would help, as it would be a ecological signal as well. If more people would do that, a lot more incentives would be there, to not let animals suffer just for human consumption. Since I switched to only eating animal products, where I know, how the animals lived, I do eat a lot less meat. i do pay a lot more (and I do that consciously). And I have the benefit, that it also does taste so much better, that I really enjoy this in more then one way, when I eat it (sometimes pork-steak, sometimes ham, sometimes goat-salami). We buy at a local farm, that raise, slaughter and process the meat all by themselves, and produce at least 50% of the food that is needed for raising the animals on the farm itself. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioland#Certification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioland#Certification) So for me this was a viable alternative - but I could understand, if this is not possible in other circumstances of life.
- paganel 13y ago
  > Maybe, just maybe buying animal-products, where the animals didn't suffer, where they were raised species-appropriate, would help, as it would be a ecological signal as well. This is very hard to do in most of the "first world" places because agriculture or raising animals doesn't scale that well unless you do it on an industrial scale. Now, you and me and a couple of others maybe can afford to pay extra for meat products, but for the vast majority of people who expect a shawarma not to cost more than 2-3 euros the reality is bleaker.
  - wprl 13y ago

VMG 13y ago

wait until you find out about Castoreum..

rattray 13y ago

To you, yes, it would probably take like despair the first several times you were to eat it. To me, and to other vegetarians, it would probably just taste better than the weaker meat substitutes we're used to.

eddieroger 13y ago

Wow, not every day you get a Better Off Ted reference, especially when I'm rewatching that show on Netflix right now.

Shivetya 13y ago

Why do I think I am the only person who connected your first sentence with Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? An Ameglian Cow? Still trying to determine why they must replicate it exactly, taste and texture should be sufficient

MattGrommes 13y ago

Well, once they get the technology for proper fat inclusion in the meat, they can make it taste however they want. But your (and by extension, the public's) mental "cringe" is probably going to be a much bigger hurdle for them to jump over than the technology was.

hmsimha 13y ago
I think it's been demonstrated time and time again that with enough monetary interest, the public will happily gulp down whatever slop is thrown their way. If this can be supplied cheaper than real beef, I think the fast food corporations will switch to it. Sergey Brin throwing his support behind the synthetic meat movement has really given me a new hope for the viability of a readily available consumer synthetic meat product in the near future.

mayanksinghal 13y ago

> Does it taste like despair? Synthetic meat doesn't, at least, taste like screams.