Recently tried an Impossible burger and nuggets and thought that if nobody told me it wasn’t meat, I’d have thought the patty was made out of a weird kind of meat, rather than make a connection with the taste and texture of plants. Honestly, I might not complain if that was the only kind of “meat” I could have for the rest of my life.
Well, maybe I’d miss bacon.
I’ve yet to find the opportunity to try lab-grown meat, but I for sure would like to try it out and don’t see much wrong with it as long as it’s sustainable, reasonably priced, and doesn’t have anything you wouldn’t expect in a normal piece of meat.
Also, with imitation and lab-grown options, I’d no longer have to deal with the disgust factor of handling raw meat (esp. the juices) or biting into gristle. I’ll happily devour a hot dog, but something about an unexpected bit of cartilage gives me a lingering sense of revulsion.
I’m not a good barometer for this since I pretty much like everything, but I like them. I just bought some vegetarian bacon and it was good. I’m not quite ready to stop eating meat, and I probably won’t ever fully stop, but I do plan on reducing it greatly over the next few years. I’m starting with pork since it’s the easiest one for me (bacon is about the only pork I eat regularly), cow is next, and then chicken which is the hardest one for me but it’s also the ones who suffer the most. I’m starting to buy cage free only eggs. I know the birds still live in bad conditions, but at least they are better conditions somewhat than overcrowded cages.
I am looking for ethical farmers near me and I think I might have found one but I need to visit to make sure.
I do wish lab grown meats become viable soon but in the US, these so called capitalists are already moving to impede progress and market adoption.
We are on a similar path. My first replacement was veggie crumbles and fake burgers instead of beef. I LOVE fake burgers like Beyond Beef and Impossible. I don’t see a point in buying ground beef now that I have these options at a lower price. I also use seitan chicken and beef for things like stir-fry, but it doesn’t work well in every recipe. Mostly, I switched to recipes heavy on vegetables and beans. Pork is hardest for me because it is cheap and slow cooking a shoulder fills more tacos than we can eat. Enchlidas and Burritos get well-seasoned beans. Egg-wise, I found a semi-local farm that treats their laying hens better than average (low density coops with perches, sun and air, but not free-range).
Morningstar for vegetarian bacon (you can just pop a few slices in the microwave for like 90 seconds), Lightlife for hot dogs.