Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Arcus on April 21, 2011 at 12:09pm

If everyone became vegan animals would have precious little space upon which to live due to the much lower caloric density of non-animal food sources demanding much larger agricultural farmland. So in the end it might not be as benefical to animals as one might expect due to habitat destruction.

Secondly, "to torture and kill animals" is perhaps the weakest argument for a vegeterian lifestyle as plenty of animal lifes are lost during harvesting and this is absolutely not the aim of keeping livestock. Compared to other omnivores, humans go to great lengths to take care of animals and slaughter them in the least painful way we can imagine. 

Thirdly, as Heather points out, there are substiantial dietery concerns, and you may recall the story of the French couple's baby which died due to this very reason.

The destruction of anything living is always a bad thing, but it's not always the wrong thing. Growing meat in a petri dish would be a good way of reducing something which is bad, but not wrong.

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Permalink Reply by John Major on May 18, 2012 at 2:17pm

Less agricultural space would be needed if everyone became vegan.

Your harvesting argument makes no sense. You appear to forget or discount all the harvesting of crops necessary for animal feedstuff.

It is perfectly possible to live a healthy life on a vegan diet. indeed, you will see there are a number of health benefits associated with a meatless diet.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Vegetarianhealth/Pages/Vegandiets.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Study_(book)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864

The killing of a sentient creature is bad I agree. Because it is unnecessary, it is wrong.

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Permalink Reply by Jonel Burge on February 1, 2011 at 6:39pm

Yes, especially if you, yourself were the one to mix and make the petri food.

I read an article in Discover quite a bit ago(maybe 5 years, now), and it was the science-fictiony idea of having a coffee-maker style machine, that incubated and tended the cells. You would buy a starter packet of cells(or scrape some of your own), dump it in, and in a tray it would create an almost tofu-like meat, something that obviously isn't quite steak, but is a mixture of fat and muscle tissue. In most science fiction stories this meat is a few steps below real meat, simply due to the fact that it costs less and takes less to make. In the event of overpopulation much of the culture would have to go vegetarian.

As it is, I hardly eat much meat on a regular basis. I make sure I get my veggies, sure, and I eat a lot of cheese and eggs and nuts and beans, and I love sausage and other tasty tasty meats, but they are a luxury, they take time to cook, make, and then are a waste if I can't finish them. I also live alone so it's not like I'm cooking for a family or group of meat-loving people.

It would be an interesting way to have people "grow" their own food in a large city-like area that has a high problem with starvation or nutrition. I could also see an easy way of making things like goat cheese, raising chickens or similar in a coop on the roof, and a few small balcony gardens--not to replace, but to supplement your average city person's diet.

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Permalink Reply by kelltrill on February 2, 2011 at 4:10am

Sure, I'll eat it. I've always considered myself morally a vegetarian because I don't want to support the cycle of violence of rearing and torturing animals simply because they taste good, but I've never been able to stick to a vegetarian diet because I am an out-and-out meat lover. I kept slipping back into meaty habits by forgetting that mince is meat, or salami on a sandwich. lol

 

I would actually prefer the idea of lab-grown meat over reared-meat, so long as the meat isn't injected full of harmful chemicals. I don't know too much about this stuff, but I know that people go overboard with misinformation about genetically modified foods.

 

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Permalink Reply by John Major on May 18, 2012 at 2:19pm

It is difficult to shake that self interest sometimes. I know lots who struggle in the early stages. I found it no problem at all. We are all different I suppose.

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Permalink Reply by Hope on February 2, 2011 at 6:52am

Depends, if it is delicious, of course I will eat it... do you think it will be delicious?

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Permalink Reply by Jaume on February 2, 2011 at 8:48am

It's been done already, by Japanese researcher Mitsuyuki Ikeda. But I don't expect his idea to appeal to the average consumer. Too bad, as it would be a great step towards a cleaner planet.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Reed on February 2, 2011 at 10:24am

This would be a great idea. I'd definitely prefer it to fresh meat, and hopefully it'd be cheaper too.

Maybe some kind of combination of meat and fungus DNA..?

 

Alternatively, (and probably better) would be if there was a meat-flavoured plant. By this I mean of course that the cooked plant would taste like cooked meat.

 

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this was possible within a few years.

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Permalink Reply by Snowcrash on February 2, 2011 at 11:01am

Sure i would eat it if it was safe, has the same nutritional value, tastes just as good as real meat and about the same price as normal meat.

 

Would you eat the meat if it was a clone of a real animal BUT without a brain. would that be acceptable to any of you ?

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Permalink Reply by Albert Bakker on February 2, 2011 at 11:52am

Wut, you mean eat Glenn Beck? No! What if it's contagious what he has? Nihilist prions or sumtin'

 

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Permalink Reply by Snowcrash on February 2, 2011 at 12:26pm

Now there is a revolting thought hehe.

But no that's not what i had in mind :)

I saw this on a docu on either discovery or national geographic, cloning a farm animal but without it having a brain, so it would be "ok" to eat because it would'nt be able to feel pain, it would just be a living slab of meat.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Reed on February 2, 2011 at 7:04pm

I don't see any problem with that. When you consider that currently, meat is produced in that way but with added pain etc, why not? The only objections I can think of are of the "playing God" variety.

 

On the other hand, there is still the issue of the carcass. If meat was produced pretty much 'on demand' (ie, grown in a lab) there would be no carcass hence less waste...

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