As a general rule we don’t eat meat that often. It’s not some conscious effort to be a vegan, either for health reasons or out of respect for our fellow animals—we just like vegetables better. But once in a while we go to our favorite burger place or steak house, and happily dig in. And then we forget about it. That is, until the next hankering comes.
Lab-grown meat as hamburger. Any takers? (Image from www.bbc.co.uk )e
Now that the first lab-grown meat has officially made its debut to the world this August (thanks to one Dr. Mark Post and his team), that also officially changes our perception of meat from now on. Is it for the better or worse? We like to think it’s for the better, of course. But others might not think so. New inventions aren’t always received well, especially if it’s something as delicate as the food we ingest.
House Special Today: Lab Meat
The thing with cultured meat is that it completely overhauls our notion of food.
It’s not just something that will eventually be added to the meat section of our supermarkets, along with the other traditional cuts of meat we know. In the future, lab-grown meat might eventually come to replace all of them.
It’s a very far future to be sure, since right now lab-meat is too expensive (research and development cost a whopping $332,000, funded by Google boss Sergey Brin) and too labor-intensive (20,000 muscle fibers cultured for three months) to produce. But eventually, in the next decades to come, lab meat will find its way to our dinner plates.
Nothing wrong with it of course. But understand that we humans are creatures of habit, we can’t just change our tastebuds and our brain overnight.
Consider the case of GMO’s (genetically-modified organism) when it comes to food. It’s been decades and there are still debates regarding its safety. People still demand that manufacturers label their products as GMO, so we can all choose between that and conventional products. Lab meat just might get the same kind of discrimination, unless the people behind it do their marketing right.
Is everyone willing to take a bite of lab meat?
But before marketing, they have to take care of the two important things: the taste and the ick factor. These things we have to anticipate if we seriously want to introduce and integrate lab meat to everyone’s diet.
So far, the two food critics who sampled the burgers were impressed. The meat’s “consistency was perfect” and it was “not falling apart”, although the lack of fat in favor of leanness compromised the flavor. It was close to real meat, they confessed, but not quite—there’s just no fooling the taste buds just yet.
As for the ick factor, that’s another issue. Some of us might not be comfortable with food that’s been grown in a test tube or a petri dish. Some of us might want to cling to the “romantic” notion of pure, animal meat on our plate—steak and a glass of wine on a big date, if you will.
Admit it, there’s nothing “romantic” or “sexy” about lab-grown meat—the very name itself is too technical, too scientific. Cultured meat, nah. Shmeat (sheet + meat combined), nah.
That’s why we need more than just behavioral change to fully accept lab meat. We need a paradigm shift. One that takes into consideration the well-being of the animals we’ve been slaughtering ever since we first hunted for food and later, learned how to domesticate and breed animals.
Happy Cows = Happy Burgers = Happy Meal
…I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss. (Scene from The Matrix, 1999).
Some very nice stats in favor of lab-grown meat. According to a 2011 study, lab-grown meat…
- requires up to 45{e3829ec1db02d54faaf9fa2de0d48db26af01d7a7944a63c3b26976124791cab} less energy to produce,
- occupies 99{e3829ec1db02d54faaf9fa2de0d48db26af01d7a7944a63c3b26976124791cab} less land (unlike cattle grazing fields),
- uses 82-96{e3829ec1db02d54faaf9fa2de0d48db26af01d7a7944a63c3b26976124791cab} less water, and
- contributes to 95{e3829ec1db02d54faaf9fa2de0d48db26af01d7a7944a63c3b26976124791cab} less greenhouse gases
Animal agriculture was never a pleasant business to begin with. If we think lab-grown meat isn’t “sexy” or “appealing”, killing animals is certainly neither of those as well.
There’s the illusion of something sumptuous and delightful when it arrives on our dinner plate, in the form of a nicely-cooked steak or spare ribs. But the behind-the-scenes of that lovely feast is a merciless slaughter, forced vaccines and hormone drugs, plus the blunt fact that these animals are only born and fed just to end up as food on the table.
Of course, we’re aware about cruelty to animals, but somehow we’ve learned to disregard it and actually be comfortable with it. We turn a blind eye to it and instead enjoy our meal. Just like Cypher in The Matrix, who knows the steak he’s eating isn’t real, we prefer to not know where and how our meat came to be because “Ignorance is bliss.”
If cultured meat is what it takes to ease world hunger while lessening animal suffering as well, then by all means let’s have more of this glorious shmeat.
