Would you eat meat cultivated in a laboratory?

(Vegetarian here)

Absolutely. All the yum and none of the suffering—count me in.

I would eat it, given a few conditions:
– There are no associated health risks
– It tastes as good as natural meat
– It is not significantly more expensive than natural meat

I don’t eat meat now and I wouldn’t eat meat cultivated in a lab. I simply prefer to keep my food as natural as possible.

I don’t even like meat clutivated in a feedlot. I don’t think I would like it from a lab, unless they figure out how to make it grass fed.

I think there will be significant problems with it, but eventually it will take over the market.

If it were cost-effective and similar enough to natural meat, I definitely would.

Ya, sounds good. I’m a vegetarian so it’s especially good news for me, but I think alot of people would rather meat old-style, they’d be convinced it is better even if it is the exact same.

If I don’t have to cook it,sure.

I’d give it a try but nothing can compare to the real deal.

Yep, wouldn’t be a problem for me. Just emailed the question to my veggie wife and after a bit of back and forth on how they get stem cells in the first place it just brought back the whole ick factor of meat for her so her answer would still be no.

Bring it on.

Would I eat it? Sure, I’d give it a try. However, I suspect it will not compare to good old fashioned free range, wild harvested venison.

Yes anything would be better than the growth hormone/antibiotic infused crud they call meat in the stores today.

Eh…dunno…I am not one for engineered meat, and, you are not talking about the Japanese guy that makes meat from poo are you? Gaaaah…running, screaming into the streets!

I don;t eat much meat as it is, maaaybe a half dozen times a year, so, it would depend on the ‘manufacturing’ process.

@Cruiser – Ermm… exactly how do you think they get the stuff to grow in a lab without bathing it in growth hormones to promote growth and antibiotics to keep bacterial infections from interfering with the artificial growth process?

While I am a strong supporter of sustainable food production, I think we humans have a long way to go before we can come anywhere close to the system nature provides for making meat.

if it’s tasty, it could come from a tree and I would probably eat it at least once.

I think synthetic meat is a terrible idea and the “meat” is unnatural! /barf

My son says it’s God’s plan for us to eat meat. If it wasn’t, he would have made cows out of wood. lol

No thank you. Not only does it not sound visually appealing (white), but the process on how it is developed sounds pretty gross. Then again, there are probably foods in the house that would stop me from eating it if I knew how it came to be.

@YoBob popped my bubble and this blurb pretty much is a deal breaker for me on this.

“Furthermore, the scientists grew the cells “in a broth of other animal products,” blech.(>.<)

I’d try it but probably not be a fan. I have no problem eating meat as I imagine other animals don’t who also eat meat. It’s hard to imagine a glop in a lab tasting as good as something that fed on grasses, berries and stuff. We can already taste the difference between free range/organic fed and wild meats compared to mass man raised or farmed meats so going further into the lab can’t be any tastier.

I’m also a vegetarian. And if it could be verified that they are not actually creating animals, just chemical compounds that are similar or even exactly like animal flesh (even if the original cells that started this type of product came from animals, as long as it didn’t involve harming animals in any way, or killing them) that would probably be OK.

Also, I’d want to be assured that the product didn’t have anything different about it that would be more likely to cause cancer or heart disease or other unknown problems. I’d probably be OK with this type of product, even if the original cells came from humans. I would just have to be assured that the products are completely non-sentient, just cells (or whatever you would call something like that, like how a mushroom is not sentient, only made from meat cells instead of plant cells).

I think this technology would be better suited for creating new organs for humans (without having to kill another human or an animal, or having to wait for a donation from a person who has died, or making the risky decision to take a donated organ from a living donor) rather than for food, but if they can do both, then that would be good.

Only if I had to. The whole idea of eating anything that is not of nature creeps me out.

@Facade Pretty much most food products that are purchased in grocery stores in the US and the UK that come in a box, bag or can, because they’ve been processed and pumped full of chemical additives and preservatives, is not of nature. Check out the ingredients list on a can of soda, or a box of Quaker Oats Oatmeal, something that you might assume would be all natural.

Not much point, if you ask me. And I don’t think we ought to be removing ourselves so far from the cow.

I’m a vegetarian and I think in theory I would eat it; wouldn’t be eating anything dead or anything that necessitated cruelty to animals for my benefit, so I shouldn’t think I’d have a problem with it.

I am a bit apprehensive about lab generated food, but I think that with the amount of pesticides and added hormones that are in most of the things we eat, it wouldn’t really be a far cry.

@Kardamom I’m well aware, and I don’t eat that stuff anymore. Reading ingredient lists is sort of a hobby for me.

@Facade I’m glad to hear that. I wish everyone would read labels. Or better yet, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, foods that don’t come with labels.

I prefer mature technology over bleeding edge technology. So the answer is yes, once a million human carnivores handle it well.