Lab-grown meats: wave of the future? or waste of scientific energy?

https://inhabitat.com/aleph-farms-has-created-the-first-lab-grown-steak/?variation=a
I know people, in general, love meat Changing climate will be one factor making meats of all types more difficult to procure in some future, but this just bothers me. Like, it's still probably going to only be a product that the rich will be able to afford as the scaling up of the process will likely take LOTS of energy. And I wonder if this is a process really capable of feeding large masses of people and is the general public interested? Wondering if ilx has thoughts.

I’ve been veg for over 20 years. It’s not hard. Just eat veg ffs.

I support this so I don't have to feed my cats slaughtered animals.

my flying car will run entirely on lab-grown meat

If it can be accomplished convincingly and efficiently I think it would be swell, though those are both big "ifs" I am ill-prepared to comment on. For many people, it's solidly ingrained that a meal isn't complete without some kind of meat on the plate.

This seems too much like a gimmick designed to shake loose some venture capital and transfer it into the pockets of the owners of Aleph Farms.

my glib answer from now on is the future is restoring indigenous sovereignty and food cultures. in the meantime, lab-grown meat is probably the wave once it's price competitive.

that's part of why i was initially so stricken by this in a negative way. like, the Chinese, from what i understand, ate MUCH less meats until more recently for SO many reasons (cost, availability, etc). i don't think this does anything to "restore their food culture".
and my first instinct was "gimmick". but what Simon H. says is true: "it's solidly ingrained that a meal isn't complete without some kind of meat on the plate.", for the greater masses.
So, at the very least this could lead to less animal husbandry, which i applaud. at the same time i wish a quick death upon all the meat industries and this seems like something that will be an assistance to their remaining relevant in a period of earth's existence when alternatives really ought to be a prime concern

much of the meat westerners eat is so processed/reconstituted already that going fully lab-grown doesn’t seem like a huge leap

xp crüt:

Cats survive just fine on soy protein, so long as its supplemented with taurine. As the rendering temperatures (and types of tissue) in pet foods tends to destroy taurine, commercial cat food adds synthetic taurine.

The more difficult ingredient of pet foods is "digest", ie the enzymatic digest of intestine slurry that is the essential flavoring component that makes dog and cat food as difficult to resist for them as salt/oil/sugar/glutamate laden junk food is for us.

As for lab grown meat, I don't see it as being particularly necessary.

Vegan substitutes for chicken breast meat have been spot on for decades (abetted by the MSG heavy broth most real chicken products marinate in). The texture of hamburger/sausage has been conquered, and for those that rely upon spice/herb mixes for flavor vegan subs are okay. Supposedly Impossible Foods, by incorporating a bacterial heme, have made a veggie burger that bleeds and is nigh indistinguishable from most burgers. The Taiwanese have a whole industry devoted to faux fish, and the couple I've tried are okay for less demanding uses than sashimi. Cuts of beef or pork have proven more difficult.

I've yet to see a single energy or greenhouse emissions breakdown of lab steaks. I worked in cell/tissue culture at a cancer lab some years ago, and I believe upscaling this will prove really difficult. I have huge doubts that lab steaks will ever offer a tangible benefit in either inputs or emissions over the grain-lot variety.

So, what's left for the lab grown tissue market is faux steaks for people who like steaks, but don't like slaughter in their name. Honestly, if we all ate like peasants on plant based diets 29 days of the month, there's be more than enough sustainable grazing land for people to treat themselves to a real steak for special ocassions, vegans like myself excluded.

Honestly, if we all ate like peasants on plant based diets 29 days of the month

tbh, most peasants operate at a subsistence level, and tend to eat a fairly repetitive and monotonous diet that mostly reflects what's in season or can be stored with minimal spoilage.

otoh, Americans and other westerners can easily afford to eat a diet that not only mixes peasant dishes from cultures all over the globe, but also tends toward the 'upscale' end of peasant diets, more like the types of foods eaten on holidays or special occasions. When it come to eating "like peasants", we have it easy.

the impossible burger has a weird taste/texture that's somehow closer to pork floss. a good falafel does a better job right now of filling in for beef than the uncanny valley of the impossible burger, but maybe they'll get better.

the beyond burger is better

the impossible burger is superficially more like a real burger, but yeah I actually prefer the beyond as an actual food product

the beyond sausages are fantastic

beyond sausages are so good, they freaked my wife out bc they were too realistic and so she gave them all to me which i happily obliged bc realism is not a problem for me

i wish these motherfuckers werent so expensive, BUT i can go to a fast food vegan place less than a 15 min drive from my house and get a beyond burger and fries combo so thats nice