The main reasons I’ve seen from vegans for not eating meat seem to be all about the morality of eating a sentient animal, the practices of the modern meat industry, and the environmental impact of it. And don’t have anything to do with the taste of meat.
Since lab-grown meat doesn’t cause animal suffering, and assuming mass production is environmentally friendly, would you consider going back to eating meat if it were the lab-grown kind?
If it’s vegan (is fetal bovine serum still an input?) then yes.
Any vegan who says no is saying so for some other reason besides veganism (ick factor, no desire, environmental considerations).
I wouldn’t call that going back, exactly
I would not mind eating lab grown and I think it is great if people would eat that instead but ive been vegan for so long that i have no interest in meat. I hardly eat mock meats, its only in social situations to not stand out to much.
Meat is delicious, you should try it if theres no reason not to
I eat meat, but I’ve gone months at a time on a vegetarian diet, and the smell of cooking meat could be nauseating at times. I don’t think as many people would eat meat if it wasn’t so ingrained in our society
Meat traditionally was the only food option for most people. Meat, eggs and grain are staple foods across the world no matter where you look.
Ah, so witty! Here is more.
Wasn’t trying to be witty.
it’s* only in
Ill let it slide, because you seam to have made it youre hole identity, butt ill note its knot relevant to this discussion
Same. I stopped eating meat in the mid 90s, was pescatarian until 2019, and have been vegan since. I don’t miss meat at all. I’ll eat an impossible or a beyond burger occasionally because it’s sometimes my only option, but I could just as easily skip them.
I wouldn’t judge anyone else for eating lab meat, though. I don’t have any moral issue with it, it just isn’t something I’m personally interested in.
Seconded. When I was vegan I’d already been vegetarian for years. Meat, including fake meat, held no appeal.
Fake meat has more of an appeal to me than lab grown meat, or it used to. It was kinda interesting when they were unique flavours marketed as alternatives rather than accurate immitations.
Honestly the food science is one of my favourite things about being vegan, I can cook way more interesting meals than I could as a carnist because I’d just use meat as the main flavour which works but it’s kinda lazy. Let me make something with a little miso and shitake broth and you’ll be in love
You got me drooling - any recipe suggestions? I’ve both ingredients in my fridge!
I don’t have any written recipes I’m afraid, I’ve been making them up as I go.
I usually use that combination for a ramen base. I used dried shitake and soak them in a ton of water overnight in the fridge. The dried shitake are honestly kinda inedible even after being rehydrated so I don’t always use them afterwards. I should also soak Kombu but I keep forgetting to buy it.
If you mix that broth with the right amount of miso paste then you’ll get the amazing combination of msg and nucleotides that gives you some amazing flavours. Soy sauce helps too, some garlic, ginger and sesame oil make it perfect.
Good luck working out ratios because I just guess everytime based on the size of my bowls 😅
Thanks so much for sharing! I’ll have to experiment for dinner tomorrow (I’m blessed to have a local eco store that sells everything you mentioned).
Hell yeah!
Good luck and have fun!
If it’s cheap, sure.
For sure
Fwiw my wife had a long period of being vegetarian primarily because she doesn’t like the taste of beef. So that reasoning does occur as well. She’s not vegetarian any more but mostly keeps to chicken due to the taste
Yeah, I was going to say, if taste is the only issue, has she tried NON-beef meats? Like pork, and turkey, and chicken, and fish.
Or hell…if you want a heart attack, go back to 2014 and get the meat mountain. It was like 37 different meats stacked on top of each other, and when I measured mine, it was 23 inches tall. My arbys sandwich was 23 inches tall. I only ever ordered one. It was meals for like 3 days. I made the joke that you don’t put a toothpick in the middle, you put a dagger.
Username checks out
No, I dont like the taste or texture
So, you’ve already tasted lab-grown meat?
Given that the point of lab grown meat is to stand in for butchered meat, I think it’s fair to assume they’ll target the same taste/texture. Honestly, what’s even the point of the discussion without that premise baked in?
I think they mean they don’t like the taste/texture of meat already so why would they go over to lab grown.
Where are you getting lab grown meats?
From… A guy. Don’t ask questions.
I assume they meant meat in general. Supposed lab-grown meat aims to be a similar experience, the given answer is self-explanatory.
Btw, you can get lab-grown meat in a reastaurant in Singapore iirc.
Yes you are correct. I was talking about meat in general.
Not vegan but I’d wager most wouldn’t, not even because of the ethics stuff everyone memes about
Breaking down meats takes an energy investment that breaking plants down doesn’t. So people who are used to a low meat or meatless diet aren’t recommended to go full steam on some carnitas first time they feel like getting back on the red and pink stuff.
Literally it causes heavy fatigue and tiredness untill they re-adjust to the energy investment, and if you’re already feeling fine just not eating meat then what exactly would be the point of putting yourself through that?
And I’m saying this as a total beef and pork addict, my dad’s pescatarian so I got to learn about sudden diet shift health effects from his doctor when he first went for the fishes.
I don’t have any ethical issues with it, I just don’t find meat appetizing anymore. I’m all for having the option for people who want it though.
Same
I grew up vegetarian and I’m used to regarding body parts as belonging to a living thing and to be used in service of it, not as food.
If others cannot stop eating meat from animals then I would find it less morally wrong to eat lab-grown. Still disgusting though. And unlikely to be very resource efficient. Or safe. That’s my two pennies!
Vegetarian not vegan, but I wouldn’t really have an issue if ethical. Nutrition is another matter to consider.
+1, I was fully veg for about 15y until I started having dreams about turkey sandwiches. I’m weekday veg now and only eat meat/eggs/etc that isn’t sourced from factory farming. Shit’s expensive and if lab grown meat has the same nutritional profile without the animal suffering I’d happily switch.
Well damn I want turkey now lol
Why not celebrity meat?
If that’s fine for them, why not? But I’d rather like to have a taste of myself. Always wondered what I would taste like.
It is a great alternative though I personally would not eat lab-grown due to the taste/texture even with plant based alternatives I find it being to close to animal meat as a turn off.
Lab grown meat currently does still does cause animal suffering since it’s often derived from fetal bovine serum.
As a vegan, I still wouldn’t eat it without that though because I have come to view flesh as inedible as other people would see tree bark or tires outside of desperate situations.
I already make food I like at home without it, there’s no point in adding it back in.
It’s not derived from FBS, FBS is used to feed the cell culture. The stemcells themselves come from other sources of the embryo. So growing meat from meat with serum.
Extracting the stem cells may or may not cause harm to animals. If it is extracted from a live animal then it would cause harm and stress to an animal.
The medium used for growing may not be vegan (like FSB which is extracted from an animals death). But reportedly companies are moving to cheaper, plant-based, mediums.
Even if the process caused no harm or stress to animals, I’m not sure i would eat lab grown meat. I’ve already completely replaced meat in my cooking, and learned how to make much more nutrious meals. Adding meat back in would be regressive. Not to mention i feel like lab grown meat in particular will have been made possible through animal suffering research. While I’m glad it will have potential to be a net positive in the long run, i personally don’t feel the desire to support lab grown meat
Not to mention i feel like lab grown meat in particular will have been made possible through animal suffering research.
I feel like there’s a limit to this. How much time has to pass before it’s ethical again? After all, many animals were harmed in the research (selective breeding) of modern vegetables too. It’s a process that took hundreds to thousands of years and a ton of livestock used as farm equipment to create something like the modern carrot.
Poking with a modern needle or using a single cattle by comparison is a lot less sacrificial research by comparison, only it’s more recent.
Of course this could apply to a lot of other things and i realize it isn’t particularly rational. Though on the note of modern needle vs not, a single biopsy on a live animal is causing harm so that’s not a good comparison since that is not vegan by any standard.
But i mention the past suffering here because that is what i would be reminded of eating lab grown meat, rational or not. In general i think if the current process is vegan then it is fine (so using a biopsy on a recently, naturally, deceased animal or from an umbilical cord).