Slashdot Mirror
Most People Would Give Lab-Grown Meat a Try, New Survey Reveals (sciencealert.com)
Clive Phillips and Matti Wilks report via ScienceAlert: In a recent survey, published this month in PLOS One, we investigated the views of people in the United States, a country with one of the largest appetites for meat and an equally large appetite for adopting new technologies. A total of 673 people responded to the survey, done online via Amazon Mechanical Turk, in which they were given information about in vitro meat (IVM) and asked questions about their attitudes to it. Although most people (65 percent), and particularly males, were willing to try IVM, only about a third said they would use it regularly or as a replacement for farmed meat. But many people were undecided: 26 percent were unsure if they would use it as a replacement for farmed meat and 31 percent unsure if they would eat it regularly. This suggests there is scope to persuade consumers that they should convert to IVM if a suitable product is available. As an indication of this potential, 53 percent said it was seen as preferable to soy substitutes. The biggest concerns were about IVM's taste and lack of appeal, particularly in the case of meats seen as healthy, such as fish and chicken, where only two-thirds of people that normally ate them said that they would if it was produced by in vitro methods. By contrast, 72 percent of people who normally eat beef and pig products would still do so if they were produced as IVM.
I'm 60.
Perfectly happy to try it, in fact, looking forward to it a great deal.
You might want to argue that I don't have a brain in my head, or that I'm stupid, but I don't think you can make your case. :)
Lots of very good reasons to want this to work out.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
why not? i am sure the "gmo = scary" crowd will be against.
Um, 50 years old and yes I would. Whats more, if it were decent and the texture was close enough I would integrate it into my diet and a normal thing. We already have soy based meats as part of our diet as it is. In the case of a couple of the products I would defy you to tell the difference of it from meat. The product is that good. In the case of the case of the IVM, I like the idea of it far more than an animal being put through what they are only to be killed in the end for my burger. IF there is an option like the IVM that is close to the taste/texture and even double the price we are there. I sure as hell hate the idea of what animals go through to end up on my plate.
eating at Mac Donald's
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
I guess I'm not sure the entire market for this are vegans. If they could make good quality meat that tastes good more efficiently than the current method, that might solve a lot of problems.
As for vat grown meat, I agree, so long as it tastes good, but it may have to be served differently just like there's some things very lean meat doesn't work in and others that very fatty meat doesn't work in. For example Kangaroo is not something that can just be cooked up like a beef steak and taste good, it's far too lean, it's better in something like a Rendang curry. Muscle is very complicated so don't expect something like beef or pork.
An interesting thing is how the vegetarian community have embraced quorn, a highly processed food made from vat grown fungus (crumbed and fried it's nice, but once again treating it like meat is likely to dissappoint). I don't know how many vegetarians avoid meat due to dislike of farm practices but those people are likely to be early adopters of vat grown meat.
When it comes down to it familiar, convenient and bland is what most people eat IMHO, myself included from time to time. If you are going to use totally different ingredients I think trying to get them to taste like something else is a mistake but I'm just a guy who likes some vegetarian food every now and again instead of someone who lives off the stuff. Maybe someone who is a full vegetarian who craves meat gets some joy out of tasteless soy chunks in an imitation of a beef stew, but I'd rather have a minestrone (or something else devised without even thinking of meat) if meat is not on the menu.
Unfortunately the bad effects of eating such meat will likely not be known before years (cancers...).
In the mean time I'll stick with good healthy hot dog meat.