Human: The other meat

[Rynjin]

Gator and snake, then? Both are good eating.

I've always found both to be pretty bland, myself. Gator tastes a lot like turkey to me, i.e. not much on its own. And it's a hell of a lot tougher.

[tyckspoon]

I've always found both to be pretty bland, myself. Gator tastes a lot like turkey to me, i.e. not much on its own. And it's a hell of a lot tougher.

The gator I've had has always been tail meat, which I find to be a lot like dark-meat chicken or maybe duck - pretty rich, fatty, makes good nuggets/fried chunks or can be simmered into a stew or gravy-type dish (chilis, etouffee, that sort of thing) to add some animal fat. I've never found it to be especially tough, but all the preparations I've had have either been very rapidly cooked (deep fried usually) or done low-and-slow, both of which are ways to avoid meats toughening up. Can agree it generally does not have a strong flavor of its own.

[Tyndmyr]

I feel like even if there's not a valid cruelty specific reason for avoiding this, I definitely find it pretty squicky.

On the other hand, you can have a ham made out of John Hamm.

[Ajustusdaniel]

I feel like even if there's not a valid cruelty specific reason for avoiding this, I definitely find it pretty squicky.

On the other hand, you can have a ham made out of John Hamm.

Celebrity Cannibalism does sound like a likely consequence of widespread acceptance of this practice, though I think it's more likely to start with marginal internet celebrities.

[Vinyadan]

Celebrity Cannibalism does sound like a likely consequence of widespread acceptance of this practice, though I think it's more likely to start with marginal internet celebrities.

Sounds like the next step, after bathwater.

[warty goblin]

Celebrity Cannibalism does sound like a likely consequence of widespread acceptance of this practice, though I think it's more likely to start with marginal internet celebrities.

You know, when the aliens show up, take one look at us, and hurl the entire planet into the sun, it'll be very, very hard to blame them.

[Ibrinar]

And this is the point of the exposition, promoting the use of human fluids to grow e.g. bovine meat instead of bovine fluids. Which I don't think makes sense, because human fluids come from people eating. This cannot be a closed cycle.

Not really

We are not promoting 'eating ourselves' as a realistic solution that will fix humans' protein needs. We rather ask a question: what would be the sacrifices we need to make to be able to keep consuming meat at the pace that we are?

[pendell]

Celebrity Cannibalism does sound like a likely consequence of widespread acceptance of this practice, though I think it's more likely to start with marginal internet celebrities.

I already anticipate the unboxing videos when certain youtubers decide to eat themselves on camera, to the delight of their audience.

You know, when the aliens show up, take one look at us, and hurl the entire planet into the sun, it'll be very, very hard to blame them.

That's inefficient. A better alternative would be dinosaur killer asteroids. There are already plenty in our asteroid belt just waiting for the gentlest of nudges to go hurtling to a fiery doom on the unsuspecting planet below.

Eating people, fiery doom... I wonder if I'm turning into a misanthrope in my middle age?

Tongue-in-cheek,

Brian P.

[warty goblin]

That's inefficient. A better alternative would be dinosaur killer asteroids. There are already plenty in our asteroid belt just waiting for the gentlest of nudges to go hurtling to a fiery doom on the unsuspecting planet below.

Eating people, fiery doom... I wonder if I'm turning into a misanthrope in my middle age?

Tongue-in-cheek,

Brian P.

Look, if you're obliterating our diseased genome, you've gotta do it properly. Incinerate those pesky microbes!

[Ajustusdaniel]

I already anticipate the unboxing videos when certain youtubers decide to eat themselves on camera, to the delight of

Eating people, fiery doom... I wonder if I'm turning into a misanthrope in my middle age?

Brian P.

Of course not- eating people doesn't make you a misanthrope- it makes you a humanitarian!

[pendell]

Update: Salmon from cultured cells too . I find that much more edible.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Apparently we actually taste like pork

Given the setup, I figure this particular meat probably actually does taste like chicken.

There are two main things that set something like beef or pork apart from chicken. Part one is more structure from the many bloodvessels a large warm blooded animal needs. Part two is a higher fat content. Something like deer has the structure but not the fat, and something like foie gras (or cheap hamburger) has the fat but not the structure. An actual human would probably taste quite a bit like beef, pork or goat or something in that direction, but this is not a human. This is a small growth of cells without moat of the structure needed to support the blood flow around the whole animal. And depending on the exact cells harvested there probably aren't (m)any fat cells either. I think chicken is pretty close.

[sktarq]

When the filesearch for flavor:(animal) is empty the default is match to the file for flavor:chicken...the matrix is still limited by GIGO and may just not have inputs for flavor:human.

And I always found snake rather flavorful..love the stuff but don't see it on the menu often.

[Noldo]

This reminds me of the most highly sought after application of process to cultivate meat in laboratory:

Kosher bacon.

[Trafalgar]

Seen in Dezeen

I think I'd prefer something a bit less , shall we say, close to home. Even if it does probably taste like chicken.

I believe they called it "Long Pork" back in the day. Since we are not poultry, I imagine it would be closer to pig, beef, or lamb.

[Tyndmyr]

Celebrity Cannibalism does sound like a likely consequence of widespread acceptance of this practice, though I think it's more likely to start with marginal internet celebrities.

I mean, if all you need is a cheek swap to start culturing and growing your own, uh, a particularly delightful/horrifying cyberpunk celebrity DNA trade is just around the corner.

[Trafalgar]

I feel like even if there's not a valid cruelty specific reason for avoiding this, I definitely find it pretty squicky.

On the other hand, you can have a ham made out of John Hamm.

I want some Kevin Bacon Bacon!

[Ajustusdaniel]

I mean, if all you need is a cheek swap to start culturing and growing your own, uh, a particularly delightful/horrifying cyberpunk celebrity DNA trade is just around the corner.

Well, yeah, but without a clear endorsement by the celebrity "I'm John Hamm and I'm..." *pause to take a bite of cultured meat "Delicious" how are you going to authenticate it? It's probably much easier to get a cheek swab from some unfamous guy and slap a celebrity's name on it then it is to follow the celebrity around until they take their eyes off their DNA.

[Trafalgar]

I have a serious question. Would eating this increase the chance of a new virus developing? Kind of like how Mad Cow Disease developed when cows were fed the remains of cattle?

[Keltest]

I have a serious question. Would eating this increase the chance of a new virus developing? Kind of like how Mad Cow Disease developed when cows were fed the remains of cattle?

I am going to say, without any scientific basis other than the fact that we are having this conversation in 2020, that i dont see how it could possibly not happen.

[Yora]

Mad Cow is a prion disease, similar to kuru. They are caused by abnormal proteins that can be absorbed into the body by eating a carrier and then get replicated by the same processes that replicate regular proteins that the body naturally produces.

If you had a sample contaminated with prions and make meat from it, the prions would end up in all the people who eat that meat. But since the people who catch them don't get eaten themselves, it stops there. You really only have a one-way chain of three possible "hosts". The original sample, the artificial meat, and the consumer who eats it.
Prions can appear spontaneously during protein replication, but it's an extremely rare thing to happen. Even if it should happen in a growing piece of meat, it will only spread to the person eating that piece of meat.

This is very different than the practice that lead to Mad Cow Disease. In that case, the remains of butchered cows were shredded and powdered into a food supplement that was fed to other cows. You get one random cow out of billions that spontaneously develops prions. Then that cow gets butchered and its leftovers fed to a hundred other cows that now have them as well. Then those get butchered and their remains fed to ten thousand other cows which now have the prions as well. This could possibly have gone one for dozens of generations before it was noticed.
Same thing with Kuru. Most cannibalism is funerary cannibalism, where the remains of the dead are consumed by their relatives. Whose remains then get consumed by their relatives, and so on.

[Bohandas]

something something fava beans

[sktarq]

something something fava beans

Well if we are going that direction....such lab grown meat would probably be more amenable to such behavior....if one is going to have for example lab grown liver(which should be quite easy as it likes to regrow anyway) and some classic meat a lot of the harder aspect is going to be texture based (so a lot of it will come off like veal due to a lack of environmental stimulus). This would thus imply that to avoid the texture issues using the meat as mince and slathering it with a flavor rich mix such as a sauce would be ideal....now tossing in some ground organ meat into something like a ragu or ragout would be pretty classic to bump up the richness and depth of flavor....and really such a ragu would be a very classic pairing for a nice Chianti and the flavor and texture contrast of broad beans (aka fava beans) would likely be very nice.
also in the book Hannibal it expressly notes a suspicious meal where he hosts a group associated with a symphony in which a mysterious ragout is featured as being notable dark and rich (which is often associated with the use of organ meat) which may or may not have features a "sticky flute" so we can rather safely assume he is at least quite partial to such preparations.

So yeah....lab grown meat would actually pair better with that statement than most others.

no I have not thought a lot on this, why do you ask?

[ereinion]

Not to mention, I'm told that carnivores who have been living on meat taste absolutely horrible.

Could it be that you remember this from the Narnia books? I seem to recall something like this mentioned there, but I have never heard of it in any other context...

[pendell]

Could it be that you remember this from the Narnia books? I seem to recall something like this mentioned there, but I have never heard of it in any other context...

Yes, that's where I remember it from. Prince Caspian -

They reached the fir wood which had caused them so much trouble while it was still daylight, and bivouacked in a hollow just above it. It was tedious gathering the firewood; but it was grand when the fire blazed up and they began producing the damp and smeary parcels of bear-meat which would have been so very unattractive to anyone who had spent the day indoors. The Dwarf had splendid ideas about cookery. Each apple (they still had a few of these) was wrapped up in bear's meat - as if it was to be apple dumpling with meat instead of pastry, only much thicker - and spiked on a sharp stick and then roasted. And the juice of the apple worked all through the meat, like apple sauce with roast pork. Bear that has lived too much on other animals is not very nice, but bear that has had plenty of honey and fruit is excellent, and this turned out to be that sort of bear. It was a truly glorious meal. And, of course, no washing up - only lying back and watching the smoke from Trumpkin's pipe and stretching one's tired legs and chatting. Everyone felt quite hopeful now about finding King Caspian tomorrow and defeating Miraz in a few days. It may not have been sensible of them to feel like this, but they did.

While this is a fictional story, I think we can see C.S. Lewis the WWI soldier peeping through the person of Trumpkin, and some of his real-life experience there.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Fyraltari]

Yes, that's where I remember it from. Prince Caspian -



While this is a fictional story, I think we can see C.S. Lewis the WWI soldier peeping through the person of Trumpkin, and some of his real-life experience there.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

WWI soldiers didn't eat much bear meat, though.

[pendell]

True, but I don't think it's unreasonable to believe he had some experience with the outdoors, although a google search to find out why he thought he knew what bear meat tasted like , or if he'd simply made it up, turns up no hits.

I did see this snarky article on Turkish Delight, though, which implies not everyone agreed with C.S. Lewis' assessment of things to eat.

I suppose if I had to choose between human steak and Turkish Delight, I'd take the Turkish Delight ... but not by much.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Fyraltari]

True, but I don't think it's unreasonable to believe he had some experience with the outdoors, although a google search to find out why he thought he knew what bear meat tasted like , or if he'd simply made it up, turns up no hits.

Knowing what bear meat tastes like, I wouldn't question but how would he know the bear's diet?

I did see this snarky article on Turkish Delight, though, which implies not everyone agreed with C.S. Lewis' assessment of things to eat.

I suppose if I had to choose between human steak and Turkish Delight, I'd take the Turkish Delight ... but not by much.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

You've got something against loukoums?

[pendell]

Knowing what bear meat tastes like, I wouldn't question but how would he know the bear's diet?

Well, Diet changes meat flavor, so presumably, if he didn't just make it up, he either had experience of eating both carnivorous and herbivorous animals, or knew people who had.

Not just meat either . Yes. If you have a partner you can make their life better with a healthy diet.

You've got something against loukoums?

Found a box on sale in the 1990s. Maybe I'm spoiled as an American, but there are a number of better options available in the modern world, such as See's candys. Can well imagine why it would be loved in WWII-era Britain when rationing made sugar scarce. Strange as it may sound, the ones I had were too sweet for my taste, and considering you're talking about an American raised on stuff like Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs (not a real cereal, but you get the idea), that's a very odd thing to say.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Fyraltari]

Well, Diet changes meat flavor, so presumably, if he didn't just make it up, he either had experience of eating both carnivorous and herbivorous animals, or knew people who had.

Right, but in order to know which bears taste better based on their diet you'd have to eat a lot of bear and know what each used to eat and that's not feasable unless there are bear farms somewhere and nobody told me.

Found a box on sale in the 1990s. Maybe I'm spoiled as an American, but there are a number of better options available in the modern world, such as See's candys. Can well imagine why it would be loved in WWII-era Britain when rationing made sugar scarce. Strange as it may sound, the ones I had were too sweet for my taste, and considering you're talking about an American raised on stuff like Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs (not a real cereal, but you get the idea), that's a very odd thing to say.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

I mean, treats are the same as any food, sometimes you just dislike them and there's not really a reason why. But if you only tried it once 20-30 years ago, maybe give it another shot if you have the occasion.

Edit: as for the "odd for an american to say" bit, my understanding is that it isn't that your candies are more sugary than the rest of the world but that you put sugar in non-sugary foods.