well its a good thing its too expensive for you then. They are marketing this to the rich.
on a more serious note. we are gettin pushback on people eating vegetarian. people will "not eat the bugs" and yet people also want to have unmitigated population control and increase our net energy usage.
I've heard from a bunch of different sources that most land humans use for farming is specifically for animal agriculture and that if everyone went vegetarian, something like 20% of the land would be required.
I'm hoping that if lab grown meat takes off and becomes affordable for your average person, we might be able to give back some of the land that was de-forested for animal agriculture back to nature.
> we might be able to give back some of the land that was de-forested for animal agriculture back to nature.
I'd love to see this too but I think its expecting too much of human nature. its 2024 and we have problems with people capturing bears for their bile. a substance that can be trivially produced in a lab for pennies. People as a whole dont' care about nature unless they are educated about it.
I mean, you'd be surprised how many people give me looks when I buy something and refuse the bag. "but its free."
Energy usage is a self-imposed problem. We know how to generate massive amounts of electricity with zero emissions: nuclear energy. Insane self-described environmentalists successfully lobbied to make nuclear reactors nearly impossible to build in most Western countries, much to the delight of the coal industry. But laws can be changed, and if we're choosing between changing a law, and an environmental disaster, we should obviously change the law.
I'm pro-lab-grown-meat though; if it's a tasty source of protein that reduces animal suffering and reduces the environmental impact of the meat industry, why not?
What's this "we" stuff, you speak like we already have one world government and as if I'm responsible for providing food for people all over the globe. The future is regionalization, not more globalization. War is already killing globalism and it will intensify soon.
Well it doesn't originate from Singapore, as the article/headline point out. But it's likely a good market for launching because it is home to some very wealthy people.
When you're only producing 100 Kg of product per month, you have to price it pretty high!
How did you arrive to the conclusion that this is anti-human? I believe this technology to be helpful, not harmful for humanity. We need to improve our food synthesis mechanisms.
A parfait made from Japanese quail cells has become the first Australian lab-grown meat to hit the world market.
Singapore's food regulator approved Vow's quail foie gras for sale in March, making it only the second cell-cultured meat product to become available in the island city-state.
Not exactly what I would call a parfait. Wikipedia is telling me this is a France/UK divide where it somehow refers to both creamy fruit desert and meat paste.
> Not exactly what I would call a parfait. Wikipedia is telling me this is a France/UK divide where it somehow refers to both creamy fruit desert and meat paste.
That got me too - they seem to be using the term parfait because it sounds more appetising than textureless quail flavoured slush.
It's likely going to follow the lab grown meat used to be sold in Singapore supermarkets. Started with much hype it was predictably a flop, since noone wanted to buy it.
Lab grown meat has never been sold in Singapore supermarkets. There was one (1) restaurant that offered like 10 portions a week as a publicity stunt, and they recently went belly up because funding ran out and the business just doesn't scale.
I see they are going for the high-end market. Seems the right path to me, for now, since they can charge high prices for foie gras without the guilt.
We eat beef, chicken, pork, and lamb, because they taste good, and are cheap to make because we can domesticate the animals.
What if exotic meats taste better, but we can't eat them because the animals are endangered, or dangerous, or undomesticable. Maybe lion, rhino, elephant, koala, meats etc taste really good. Growing these meats in the lab eliminates* these ethical problems.
Or what if they taste good, but they are too tough? Again, cultured meat process can interleave layers of fats to break up the muscle. Another win.
Just look at the nuance between the difference in taste between lamb and beef. There's so much difference, and I see so much potential here to explore different flavors.
* or maybe just exacerbates poaching, if it's cheaper to poach than grown in lab :/
People signal with high prices as well, luxury clothing for example is not rare, or scare, or even all that good.
For some the excess spend is the signal, and there has been an aspect of cost signalling in organic grown goods for a long time. It takes time and money to eat only organic or vegan and so there has been a status signal there for ages.
That is where I see this fitting. "I have money so I don't need your barbarian meats"
"There's no point trying to replicate beef, chicken or pork. It's a fool's errand," he said.
"So instead, let's use this new technology to offer something which is distinctive from what we already consume."
What is the point of creating meat if it's to make something totally different? Do it with vegetables then (although yes, nutritionally it could be interesting).
I want to eat meat without the ethical issues associated with it.
because the reason beef chicken and pork are popular is because they are high volume and therefore cheaper than other meats, we have an ample supply of chickens/cows/pig/other livestock. it makes more sense to go after segments where they can get higher margins until they can optimise processes and get more volume to keep up with the livestock industry
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 29.0 ms ] threadon a more serious note. we are gettin pushback on people eating vegetarian. people will "not eat the bugs" and yet people also want to have unmitigated population control and increase our net energy usage.
something has to give...
I'm hoping that if lab grown meat takes off and becomes affordable for your average person, we might be able to give back some of the land that was de-forested for animal agriculture back to nature.
I'd love to see this too but I think its expecting too much of human nature. its 2024 and we have problems with people capturing bears for their bile. a substance that can be trivially produced in a lab for pennies. People as a whole dont' care about nature unless they are educated about it.
I mean, you'd be surprised how many people give me looks when I buy something and refuse the bag. "but its free."
I'm pro-lab-grown-meat though; if it's a tasty source of protein that reduces animal suffering and reduces the environmental impact of the meat industry, why not?
When you're only producing 100 Kg of product per month, you have to price it pretty high!
That got me too - they seem to be using the term parfait because it sounds more appetising than textureless quail flavoured slush.
https://driftingclouds.net/2023/06/15/i-paid-22-to-eat-the-l...
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/cultivated-meat-produ...
We eat beef, chicken, pork, and lamb, because they taste good, and are cheap to make because we can domesticate the animals.
What if exotic meats taste better, but we can't eat them because the animals are endangered, or dangerous, or undomesticable. Maybe lion, rhino, elephant, koala, meats etc taste really good. Growing these meats in the lab eliminates* these ethical problems.
Or what if they taste good, but they are too tough? Again, cultured meat process can interleave layers of fats to break up the muscle. Another win.
Just look at the nuance between the difference in taste between lamb and beef. There's so much difference, and I see so much potential here to explore different flavors.
* or maybe just exacerbates poaching, if it's cheaper to poach than grown in lab :/
The people who buy the highly priced stuff did so because it's rare in the real world, this is what gave it luxury and signal.
Factory made slop is the opposite of luxurious rarity, no matter how high you put the price.
For some the excess spend is the signal, and there has been an aspect of cost signalling in organic grown goods for a long time. It takes time and money to eat only organic or vegan and so there has been a status signal there for ages.
That is where I see this fitting. "I have money so I don't need your barbarian meats"
What is the point of creating meat if it's to make something totally different? Do it with vegetables then (although yes, nutritionally it could be interesting). I want to eat meat without the ethical issues associated with it.