15 votes

This is the beginning of the end of the beef industry

14 comments

  1. [11]
    tesseractcat
    Link
    While this article predicts that plant based meat will eventually grown mainstream, and I agree that it will definitely surge in popularity, I believe that lab grown meat is the product that will...

    While this article predicts that plant based meat will eventually grown mainstream, and I agree that it will definitely surge in popularity, I believe that lab grown meat is the product that will truly replace conventional meat in the long run. Once the technology has matured and it is mass produced, it'll be cheaper, share many of the environmental benefits of plant based meat, and remain closer in taste to conventional meat.

    For the general population, who most likely want to help the environment, but probably not enough to turn vegetarian, or even transition to food with a slightly different taste/texture, switching to lab grown meat will be simply choosing the cheaper package of meat in the supermarket aisle.

    I bet most of the meat industry recognizes it, even if they don't like it, and while they'll fight tooth and nail to slow it down, they've probably all got a research department dedicated to lab grown meat and tentative plans to make the switch.

    17 votes
    1. Thrabalen
      Link Parent
      Right now, the beef industry is looking like the auto industry. Sure, ICE engines are cheaper, easier, and proven, but there isn't a single auto company that isn't bankrolling electric.

      Right now, the beef industry is looking like the auto industry. Sure, ICE engines are cheaper, easier, and proven, but there isn't a single auto company that isn't bankrolling electric.

      10 votes
    2. [8]
      tunneljumper
      Link Parent
      I think you underestimate how set in their beliefs some people can get, especially when it comes to food, especially when it comes to older generations. I can see faux-meats taking off and...

      I think you underestimate how set in their beliefs some people can get, especially when it comes to food, especially when it comes to older generations.

      I can see faux-meats taking off and becoming popular in larger cities and urban areas, but I think you would have a hard time convincing anybody over 40 in rural South Dakota (for example) to change over.

      2 votes
      1. burkaman
        Link Parent
        If older people in rural areas are the only people who want real meat anymore, then the problem is solved. We don't need to literally eradicate meat-eating, it will probably stick around as long...

        If older people in rural areas are the only people who want real meat anymore, then the problem is solved. We don't need to literally eradicate meat-eating, it will probably stick around as long as we're still on this planet.

        5 votes
      2. [6]
        thundergolfer
        Link Parent
        Maybe, but with political power animal meat could be taxed slowly out of existence, like some countries are doing with cigarettes. Hell, maybe just remove the subsidies and South Dakotans would...

        a hard time convincing anybody over 40 in rural South Dakota (for example) to change over

        Maybe, but with political power animal meat could be taxed slowly out of existence, like some countries are doing with cigarettes. Hell, maybe just remove the subsidies and South Dakotans would reduce their meat intake to save money.

        3 votes
        1. [4]
          Thrabalen
          Link Parent
          Methane tax (methane is far worse than carbon for the atmosphere). The footprint on cattle is huge.

          Methane tax (methane is far worse than carbon for the atmosphere). The footprint on cattle is huge.

          3 votes
          1. [3]
            spctrvl
            Link Parent
            Minor quibble, but methane is carbon (CH4), and is usually included in proposals for a broader carbon tax.

            Minor quibble, but methane is carbon (CH4), and is usually included in proposals for a broader carbon tax.

            2 votes
            1. Thrabalen
              Link Parent
              You're right, I misspoke... I meant CO2, which is what people usually think about (along with Carbon Monoxide) with a carbon tax. Either way, reducing methane (which lab-grown would do) is...

              You're right, I misspoke... I meant CO2, which is what people usually think about (along with Carbon Monoxide) with a carbon tax. Either way, reducing methane (which lab-grown would do) is essential for protecting the environment.

              2 votes
            2. chembliss
              Link Parent
              Every organic compound is carbon. Maybe methane is usually included in broad carbon taxes, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure the name comes from carbon dioxide, not from taxing everything that...

              Every organic compound is carbon. Maybe methane is usually included in broad carbon taxes, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure the name comes from carbon dioxide, not from taxing everything that contains carbon.

              As a side question, do that proposals include water vapor? It's a huge contributor to greenhouse effect too, specially in the case of planes.

        2. vakieh
          Link Parent
          Do you think that grows on trees? It's a pipe dream with buckley's chance at absolute best.

          with political power

          Do you think that grows on trees?

          It's a pipe dream with buckley's chance at absolute best.

    3. NaraVara
      Link Parent
      At some point I think you hit diminishing returns on "closer to conventional meat." The truth is, the low hanging fruit of meat consumption barely tastes like their source meat in the first place...

      I believe that lab grown meat is the product that will truly replace conventional meat in the long run. Once the technology has matured and it is mass produced, it'll be cheaper, share many of the environmental benefits of plant based meat, and remain closer in taste to conventional meat.

      At some point I think you hit diminishing returns on "closer to conventional meat." The truth is, the low hanging fruit of meat consumption barely tastes like their source meat in the first place and it may not actually matter how closely it tastes as long as the taste is good. At some point we might just start seeing faux meats advertise themselves on the basis of their own unique flavor profiles rather than how close they are to chicken or beef or whatever, once the novelty of eating not-real meat wears off.

      And with that said, I think the main incentive to eat actual meat will be more out of a sense of tradition, like people who hunt game or buy heritage turkeys. Eating a real animal will become the luxury good that you couldn't replace with lab-grown or plant-based meats, and it would be seldom enough consumed that the ecological and environmental impacts would become insignificant.

  2. Octofox
    Link
    I semi regularly try out vegan fake meat burgers. For a while they have been pretty disappointing but I tried one at grill'd last week and it was mindblowing. It was the first fake meat burger...

    I semi regularly try out vegan fake meat burgers. For a while they have been pretty disappointing but I tried one at grill'd last week and it was mindblowing. It was the first fake meat burger that I really liked. It seems that so much progress has been made in this space. They have taste pretty much sorted out now and all that is left is price reduction and marketing.

    3 votes
  3. [2]
    euphoria066
    Link
    I'd really like the try the impossible burger, but I'm yet to see it anywhere in alberta. Also, isn't soy protein kinda off the table for the 1 in 8 women who will get breast cancer in their...

    I'd really like the try the impossible burger, but I'm yet to see it anywhere in alberta. Also, isn't soy protein kinda off the table for the 1 in 8 women who will get breast cancer in their lifetime - as a phytoestrogen?

    I'm a big fan of veggie burgers and always have been due to a real health food childhood, but I also have a weird thing where the acid in my stomach is not very acidic sometimes, and the iron in particular, though also protein, zinc and b12 I think, in vegetables is not bioavailable enough for my digestive system to access it easily. I either need to take hydrochloric acid pills which give me pretty unpredictable heartburn to strengthen my stomach acid, take a super expensive liquid iron supplement and other supplements, or just eat some meat, where the nutrients in question are easier to digest.

    I'm hoping lab grown meat DOES take off too, because there are a number of people who a meatless diet isn't actually nutritionally realistic for!

    1 vote
    1. NaraVara
      Link Parent
      I believe Burger King is serving it now, but I don't know if that applies outside the US.

      I believe Burger King is serving it now, but I don't know if that applies outside the US.