A hamburger made from cow cells grown in the lab, not in an actual cow. Would you consider this synthetic meat? Would you give it a try? http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2013/08/05/first-test-tube-burger/#.UgQSX2TTWpY
I'd eat it in a minute. I'm wholly in favor of this. (I'm even writing a science-fiction story in which this kind of thing plays a small role.) I absolutely love what backer Sergei Brin said about this. Some people consider it science fiction he said, and "I actually think that’s a good thing. If what you’re doing is not seen by some people as science fiction, it’s probably not transformative enough.” That's the right attitude - the attitude of a real forward-thinker. With the rate of population growth, climate change, and all our other problems, we can't afford baby steps any more. We need big leaps. Brin is the kind of guy who thinks in big leaps.
If the cows weren't fattened up with anti-biotics. I'm a caveman meat-eater but the more I read about what they're doing to food in the US I am seriously thinking of becoming veggie. As one or two of you may know I'll be tanning my white European ass in Nevada two weeks tomorrow and some articles make for scary reading. As you may also know, in Europe we turned down Monsanto, AGAIN, who want to grow GMO and at last they've finally disappeared with their stem cell tails between their legs. My wife and I only had this conversation today, she was veggie before coming to Europe, she's definitely going off meat when she gets home and unless it's clearly marked organic I'll be giving it a wide birth too. As for synthetic burgers? Can they be any worse than McDonald's? Even so, I think I'll pass...
I understand it lacked any fat cells which made it taste dry even after being cooked in butter. I thought that was an interesting tidbit about it. There are many reasons to grow meat in a factory rather than the inhumane way a lot of domestic animals are raised. I'd have no trouble eating it. In my story, which I decided to use long before this news account, a lot of meat is grown like this.
You can get humanely raised grass fed beef that was raised without hormones and antibiotics at stores like Whole Foods. That's what I do. The other thing to avoid though, is milk. Way too many active hormones are found in dairy cattle.
I don't know; the meat simply won't be as tasty unless I know a live animal was slaughtered to provide it for me. On a slightly more serious note, I am a huge meat-eater (2-3 different types of animal protein a day), and am definitely intrigued to try this. I wonder how good its nutritional content is, too. I was reading earlier today about a powder food substitute, to which the artificial meat is vastly superior, although the idea that it will fix a big problem, or even that there is a large problem to begin with, is incorrect.
I don't have an issue with the killing part, as long as it's done humanely. But the condition some animals are raised in does seem very wrong to me, so I try not to contribute to that. And the overuse of antibiotics and the residual effects of hormones are also of concern to me. Also the huge corn subsidies in this country really mess up the economic supply and demand processes. The outcome is creating markets for all that high fructose corn syrup and who knows if that is or isn't affecting obesity, but I see no good reason to keep the subsidies up.
Obviously the antibiotic filled milk goes hand in hand with the meat and I lurve my milk - any suggestions for an alternative?
You can also get milk from grass fed, pastured cows. You'll get some Omega 3s that way, too. I totally agree with you, Ginger about animals and our food system. (I love Michael Pollan.) I go to Whole Foods and also to local stores that sell humanely raised animal products that are mostly locally raised.
Seriously? You have cows that aren't grass fed? You're shitting me right? Does it state that on the bottle/carton? Milk from grass-fed cows!
If this test-tube hamburger tasted like the real thing, I would definitely eat it. But the $250k+ price tag is a bit out of my range. If I'm going to spend that much, I might as well shop at Whole Foods.
Nope. She shits you not. Grain fed has been the norm for beef cows in the U.S. Grass Fed vs Grain Fed Debate
I always seem to have this urge gnawing in the back of my psyche to grow and eat only my own sources of food. It will probably never happen besides veggies, but there's something so calming and satisfying knowing that my food was tended by me for its whole life.
I don't blame you in the least. This spring I cleared half an acre down the slope with the intent to plant a veg garden and some fruit bearing trees. I found an orchard here that sells rambutan, lychee, and kafir lime trees. I haven't the first clue as to animal husbandry, though my neighbors have a couple of heifers and goats are ubiquitous.
If you don't have acne or a weight problem, you can probably keep drinking the milk safely. Risk is always a trade off between benefits. If you love milk then take a look at the science of the effects of the hormones and decide if you care. (Many of the hormones, BTW, are natural pregnancy hormones of the cow. I believe you can buy milk in the US from dairies that don't use human growth hormone to increase milk production.) I'll see if I can find some science, the first try I've gotten suggests the hormones are digested and proteins are not absorbed in an active state, however, I know I've seen the acne research. I have to go but when I get back I'll do some proper looking.
The cows here are typically grass fed until the last few months when they are taken to crowded holding pens and stuffed full of corn to fatten them up for sale. From Wrey's link (thank you sir):
so the big US beef debate is Grass-Fed V Grain-Fed In Europe the debate is Organic (Bio in France) V Inorganic - Organic meaning that no chemicals/pesticides have been used on the land for a minimum of 7 years. Also there is a maximum number of cows per square acre or pasturage and these numbers are highly regulated. Having said that, apparently we've been eating horse for years! Officially at least I think European food regulators are a bit more concerned for both the animal and the consumer.
Didn't you guys hear about the biggest scandal to ever hit European foods? ALL of our supermarkets across the whole continent were involved in a massive fraud where horsemeat was labelled as beef on all packaging! I may be exaggerating a little but the biggest supermarkets in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Holland, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium were all involved. Cheap horse meat from Romanian and French abbatoirs "mysteriously" found it's way onto our plates!
I heard about the horsemeat scandal, but the reports I saw initially were all about the UK, where I think the general consensus was that if you were eating UK cuisine to begin with you weren't much concerned with what was in it.
