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One steak, hold the cow
I saw this article recently which gave me great hope for something I've been eagerly anticipating for years: lab-grown meat. It looks like they're going to be able to do it, growing real animal muscle tissue from single cultured cells, with no unpleasant abottoirs, massive stinky inhumane herds or anything. Finally, I'll be able to enjoy a nice burger, free from the guilt that is normally associated with this kind of carnivorism. And, perhaps, even free from the holier-than-thou stares from my vegan friends.
And the possibilities! The mind reels at the thought of sleek cubes of steak, of glowing chicken spheres and the vision of one of those perpetually rotating cones of gyro lamb meat actually GROWN in a cylinder! Oh brave new tasty world.
I bring this up also because I have an idea for a related business, and thought I'd see if any Stay Free! fans were interested in investing. (My studies show SF blog readers have LOTS of liquid capital) I plan to manufacture artificial plastic bones, meat-shaping stamps, and related materials to aid people's acceptence of artificial meat by providing an easier transition via familiar meat-shapes and accoutrements.
I can be contacted via Stay Free! if interested.
Posted by Jason Torchinsky on 08/18/2005 | Permalink
Comments
Ew. Sounds a bunch worse than GM food... and there are still the health issues of meat... and I'd wonder what the environmental impacts of a product like this would be. What kind of energy would it take to produce this stuff...
Posted by: Garrett | Aug 18, 2005 6:59:25 PM
I can't imagine even vat-grown meat having any more health issues than the steroid- and antibiotic-pumped, offal-fed zombie animals we eat now.
Posted by: Damian | Aug 18, 2005 9:50:31 PM
You make that t-bone/rib eye recyclable PET 1, and I'm your man.
Posted by: Anonmouse | Aug 18, 2005 10:45:57 PM
Damian:
You eat that shit? :)
Posted by: Garrett | Aug 18, 2005 11:34:04 PM
I saw a similar article on the BBC: . A quote: "With a single cell, you could theoretically produce the world's annual meat supply."
My question: What if it was a human cell? Imagine, not only could you one-up the vegans, but indulge any latent cannabalistic tendencies without worring about your rep among the politically correct, anti-eating-of-humans set.
Posted by: Ned | Aug 19, 2005 10:03:32 AM
Anybody read the comic Transmetropolitan? It was set in a future where this sort of thing had taken place, and the most popular foods were the lab-grown meat from babies and dolphins.
Posted by: Josh | Aug 19, 2005 3:59:33 PM
re: chick on a stick -- have you read Oryx & Crake? You gotta!
Posted by: joy | Aug 20, 2005 10:16:40 AM
