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Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

wsj.com

51–60 of 158 posts

Re: Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

#51
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> acting like we don't have viable other solutions is a bit silly. Lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, seitan, tofu, all great sources of protein. Depends on what you mean by "viable". Food is a huge part of culture and while those items you listed do provide protein it's, in my opinion, no where near as enjoyable as various types of meat. In fact many of that, to me, is really gross and I've tried multiple versions of all…

It's not just less enjoyable, plant protein is flat-out inferior. The amino acid profile of meat is better (eg leucine) and meat contains creatine, which is essential for explosive athletic performance and which is completely unavailable from plants. It's why powerlifters and practically every other strength and power athlete eats meat.

This is just demonstrably false. There are millions of people who don't eat meat and have no protein problems. There are also plenty of vegan vegetarian athletes and strongmen. Please learn about them.

Re: Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

#52

After not eating meat for over 20 years due to the environmental and ethical concerns over how it's conventionally been made, I was lucky enough to be at the tasting described in the WSJ article. I wrote about it here: https://medium.com/@sethbannon/i-just-ate-meat-for-the-first...

I wish the tasting was done with simple preparations, so we can read about how it tastes compared to regular meat. After all, even pastured chicken tastes wildly better than conventional chicken.

> After all, even pastured chicken tastes wildly better than conventional chicken.

As a farmer who used to raise pastured chicken, I was always happy to convert people to what real chicken is supposed to taste like.

Re: Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

#53

After not eating meat for over 20 years due to the environmental and ethical concerns over how it's conventionally been made, I was lucky enough to be at the tasting described in the WSJ article. I wrote about it here: https://medium.com/@sethbannon/i-just-ate-meat-for-the-first...

I wish the tasting was done with simple preparations, so we can read about how it tastes compared to regular meat. After all, even pastured chicken tastes wildly better than conventional chicken.

Anything can be made to taste great with oil, seasoning, salt and sugar. Animal products don't have a monopoly on taste.

Re: Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> acting like we don't have viable other solutions is a bit silly. Lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, seitan, tofu, all great sources of protein. Depends on what you mean by "viable". Food is a huge part of culture and while those items you listed do provide protein it's, in my opinion, no where near as enjoyable as various types of meat. In fact many of that, to me, is really gross and I've tried multiple versions of all…

I used to really like eating meat too. Also used to not like seitan or beans much, but now I love 'em. Tastes changed since I went vegan. If your litmus test for "viable" is what currently makes you the happiest you'll be blocked off from not only helping the world but likely helping yourself too.

This has also been my experience having gone vegan. Honestly, people make it out to be a big deal, but it isn't.

Re: Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

#55
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> acting like we don't have viable other solutions is a bit silly. Lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, seitan, tofu, all great sources of protein. Depends on what you mean by "viable". Food is a huge part of culture and while those items you listed do provide protein it's, in my opinion, no where near as enjoyable as various types of meat. In fact many of that, to me, is really gross and I've tried multiple versions of all…

It's not just less enjoyable, plant protein is flat-out inferior. The amino acid profile of meat is better (eg leucine) and meat contains creatine, which is essential for explosive athletic performance and which is completely unavailable from plants. It's why powerlifters and practically every other strength and power athlete eats meat.

There have been a bunch of vegetarian Mr. Universes, and plenty of vegetarians and vegans peppered liberally across every other pro sport. I'm not going to argue with you about the exact impact of meat vs plant protein on your body, but there's plenty of evidence that this isn't remotely a barrier to top performance.

Re: Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

#56
post #4

At $9,000 per pound of meat, this is not going to be replacing real meat from animals anytime soon. Chickens are already highly efficient when it comes to converting feed into edible meat. I'm skeptical that cell culture will ever be able to come close to the same level of efficiency. Cell cultures need to be sterile, the sugars, growth factors, and other nutrients used need to be highly refined. These are not requir…

> skeptical that cell culture will ever be able to come close to the same level of efficiency

"Ever"? Really?

I could see it for the next 5 years or so, but beyond that all bets are off.

Re: Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

#57

So why are all the engineered meat startups targeting pretty common meats that are fairly low cost? Why not a something like tuna which is endangered and can sell at a really high cost per pound. Take the Tesla strategy and build for a high-end exotic market that can sustain a high-margin first then get into position for the wider, lower margin market.

One meat startup went into high-end leather: http://www.modernmeadow.com/ Another algae-to-make-food company went into high-end oils for cosmetics: http://www.solazyme.com/ (and some other industrial things, from what I see now)

The leather is interesting, you sidestep the food regulatory domain and customer food safety assurance work.

Re: Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this is not going to be replacing real meat from animals anytime soon Put your prediction on PredictionBook? It's a great way to keep track of your predictions, and learn to be calibrated (e.g. to have about 80% of your predictions-of-80%-likelihood be correct, which doesn't come naturally to people). http://predictionbook.com/

Huh, that actually looks pretty cool. Are there any stats on e.x. how often someone's "80% correct" predictions are actually true?

I don't know if you can view your stats in comparison with the average user, but once you have some predictions that have ended up right/wrong, you get a nice little graph showing your calibration. For example: http://predictionbook.com/users/gwern

Assuming I'm reading it right, the perfectly calibrated guesser would trend towards a straight line going from 50 on the left to 100 on the right.

They also have a way-too-addictive game where you can practice calibrating your confidence on a bunch of trivia questions: http://predictionbook.com/credence_games/try

Re: Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the tasting was done with simple preparations, so we can read about how it tastes compared to regular meat. After all, even pastured chicken tastes wildly better than conventional chicken.

> After all, even pastured chicken tastes wildly better than conventional chicken. As a farmer who used to raise pastured chicken, I was always happy to convert people to what real chicken is supposed to taste like.

Is the difference simply that the meat is meat from a well fed, exercised chicken vs. a force fed obese monstrosity?

Kind of like eating me vs. eating an Olympian.

Re: Startup Serves Up Chicken Produced From Cells in Lab

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> acting like we don't have viable other solutions is a bit silly. Lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, seitan, tofu, all great sources of protein. Depends on what you mean by "viable". Food is a huge part of culture and while those items you listed do provide protein it's, in my opinion, no where near as enjoyable as various types of meat. In fact many of that, to me, is really gross and I've tried multiple versions of all…

I used to really like eating meat too. Also used to not like seitan or beans much, but now I love 'em. Tastes changed since I went vegan. If your litmus test for "viable" is what currently makes you the happiest you'll be blocked off from not only helping the world but likely helping yourself too.

> If your litmus test for "viable" is what currently makes you the happiest you'll be blocked off from not only helping the world but likely helping yourself too.

I find that terribly narrow minded. It's not about "happiest". I've tried almost all of those before, several of them in multiple ways. I don't like the taste nor texture. So since I don't like the taste of what you like I am thusly being selfish and blocked from helping myself and the world?

This isn't how you win people over to your side. This is the type of thing that actually reinforces someone's opinion and makes it worse getting through to them.

Instead of trying to make yourself sound better than the person you want to convince of your position, you would be better off trying to find common ground and working from there.

"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar"

Best of luck.

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