Grow Your Own Meat

Here's an interesting article from Slate.com. It's about the meat growing revolution made possible by biochemistry. Basically, cells multiply, with or without the creature they're from. So if humans can think of a way to get muscle cells (meat) to multiply in a way that creates, say, a chicken wing or a steak, then humans could stop raising (and I would say torturing) entire animals but still have their meat fix.

One of my favorite quotes from this article is as follows:

Is meat-eating necessary? It was, back when our ancestors had no idea where their next meal might come from. Meat kept us alive and made us stronger. Many scientists think it played a crucial role in the development of the human brain. Now it's time to return the favor. Thousands of years ago, the human brain invented agriculture, and hunting lost its urgency. In the past two centuries, we've identified the nutrients in various kinds of meat, and we've learned how to get them instead from soy, nuts, and other vegetable sources. Meat has made us smart enough to figure out how we can live without it.

I find that when I try to defend vegetarianism, the most common complaint I get is: well, we humans are evolved to eat meat. I've been railing against this assumption, essentially running head on into a wall over and over again. People love to eat meat. No amount of statistics or anecdotes will change their love of meat. For some (not me, apparently), the love of meat is genetically hardwired. The best way to solve this problem (a humanitarian, economic, and environmental problem) is then to find a way to sidestep the actual raising and slaughtering of these animals.

The answer: meat factories.

Maybe I can go into that after college! No, not romantic enough. "What do you do for a living?" "Grow meat!" :)

Well, if you're at all interested, I advise reading the whole article. It's a much more carnivore/omnivore sympathetic article than anything I've ever written. Maybe I need to change my focus and tone. This article speaks to me. Maybe it will speak to you, my omnivore friends.

Namaste.