Sunday, April 27, 2008
pseudo meat
Yesterday on the radio, my major source for news, I heard an odd report about PETA, an association that vehemently protects the rights of animals, and how it was offering something like 12 million dollars to the first scientist who produces tasty and viable test-tube meat. I was wondering... even if someone could do it, and I have no doubt they'll succeed at some point, would vegetarians and vegans eat it? I think by now for most of them, not eating meat probably has more to do with the whole feel and texture and idea of meat as much as not killing animals. And so to test my theory, I talked to my yoga teacher after class and some others in the class who are strict vegans, and they confirmed my assumption. The idea of eating meat was repulsive to them, even if it was not really meat at all. So why bother? My yoga teacher even said she would stop giving money to PETA! That's just what we need--more artificial stuff.
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7 comments:
The commercialization of en vitro chicken--I've heard about this. I'm adding it to my list of boundaries crossed in this post-modern age.
Lou, I think this is something else. The "meat" being discussed here has no direct relationship to any known animal, or at least that's the intention. And it hasn't been done yet. It's just a proposal.
But I agree we probably don't want to go there.
In the same way, now that scientists have found genuine soft tissue from tyrranosaurus rex, one could presumably clone the beast. Let's hope no one actually tries to do it. Maybe we learn something from Hollywood?
RE: in vitro chicken, I grew up eating unlaid eggs out of chickens. It is a traditional food, something that appears, along with chicken feet, gizzards, hearts, and livers, in soup.
Do you have to kill the hen to get those unlaid eggs?
Here's the link to the NPR story, in which test tube meat = in vitro chicken.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89942776
As Vegans, my family and I enjoy the soy protein in the style of different "meats" - m kids love having lasagna, tacos, sausage scramble, hot dogs and chicken fingers. I think it helps transition a lot of people into vegetarianism. PETA should keep that in mind. For me, it is the health and moral aspects that keep me a vegan so the texture thing isn't a problem. BUT - Im not really interested in "test tube" anything. Maybe there is more to this story that we don't know, but for now - yucky!
Great, interesting blog! Thanks Robbi.
Mel
Lou,
You do need to kill the chicken to get those eggs; I never heard of in vitro chicken ovaries, or perhaps you wouldn't have to, but I think it's a by-product of chickens that have already been killed.
I have seen and eaten plenty of vege-meats, but I have also read that they contain some additives that might not be at all healthy. I guess it depends where you get them and what ingredients are listed in them. The Chinese ones might not be all that safe because they contain gluten of the kind that poisoned animal foods a while back.
Now Chinese medications are suspect, particularly Heprin, which apparently was deliberately poisoned. I wonder who did that and what it was all about. We'll probably never find out.
Okay Lou. I looked at the link. Point made.
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