A Better Shape
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I was reading this article about cultured meat and I was getting kind of grossed out.
It says cultured meat will be efficient because farm animals “come in the wrong shape” and have to be “processed” into cuts of meat.
It says cultured meat will be specially formulated to minimize the health dangers of meat consumption. And so on…
Then I get to this part:
Will consumers accept it?
People already love hot dogs, sausages and other processed meats made from stray protein of indeterminate origin, Matheny says. And many consumers prefer not to consider the origin of their meat. Many would be quite happy to learn their chicken grew on a styrofoam tray, wrapped in cellophane.
“Consumers don’t really have a sense of how meat is produced,” Matheny says. “They see the end product, which often bears no resemblance to the animal. What they care about is how the product tastes and whether it’s affordable. When people ask me if consumers will accept this kind of meat, I think, ‘yes, look at what they already accept.’”
So true. So, so true.
“look at what they already accept” – Ditto. Strange about standards though. I know my pre-vegan habits and those of non-vegans accept nearly anything: cold pizza, burned sausages, greasy burgers, all sorts of “mystery meats”, etc. The standards are obviously pretty low –
BUT! When it comes to appealing to their appetites of vegan foods… Suddenly everybody’s a gourmet connoisseur! The new “non-meat” food has to taste tremendously *better* than anything they’ve eaten before! That’s frustrating, and will probably be the biggest hurdle for “vat meat” to conquer.
.-= Bea Elliott´s last blog ..WORLD VEGAN DAY – NOV 1 SPREAD AWARENESS! =-.
Hmmm, I’m not so sure. Vat meat tastes like flesh because it is flesh. It’s just flesh that has been grown in a lab, without a brain and nervous system.
I think the bigger hurdle is price. Right now they can make vat meat, but it costs too much for average consumers. They have to figure out cheaper methods of producing it, which is inevitable because that always happens with technology.
But you’re right… it’s frustrating how nonvegans use taste to justify not eating healthy, ethical vegan food yet ignore taste when it comes to eating crap, literally.