The future of meat

[joeea]

I do think there is a big difference in making your own bacon and buying chemical injected flavors and additives. Yes, adding salt, pink salt, pepper, brown sugar, molasses, or mustard to a bacon rub earlier in the preparation stage, but you might be adding the same ingredients to a dish when it is on your plate. Smoking is a preservation/flavoring technique, jury still out whether either is worse for carcinogens. But I do the same for homemade pastrami and ribs.

Perhaps we all have our favorite definition of "processed".

 

[brewer12345]

We're also eating less meat for health reasons, plus animal cruelty and global warming. Sometimes we use tempeh or seitan instead of meat in stir fries. I try to buy a really wide range of fruit and vegetables each week for a healthy microbiome, as a diversity of plants seems to be good for gut bacteria.

Many moons ago DW worked for a vegetarian chef's school. About once a month it was quasi-mandatory to attend a several course meal prepared by the students. I had some good and interesting dishes, but I also had some abominable ones,. I will not ever willingly consume tempeh or seitan (SATAN!) again after some of those episodes.

I am keenly aware of the animal welfare issues with the meat industry. I buy a fair amount of free range chicken. Other than that I mostly eat game that I personally harvest and I buy the odd quarter or half of pasture-raised pork. DD is vegetarian and DW does not eat mammals, so we have a fair number of veggie meals. We like to garden and forage, and we keep coturnix quail for eggs.

 

[Beststash]

Although I seldom eat beef I do eat a lot of poultry. My DW and I have been moving toward eating less meat by having "meat free" Mondays and have been gradually moving to multiple days. I don't find it that difficult. I saw an interesting quote....
"If the average American cut just a quarter pound of beef a week from their diet, about one hamburger, it would be the equivalent of taking 10 million cars off the road for a year."

 

[audreyh1]

Although I seldom eat beef I do eat a lot of poultry. My DW and I have been moving toward eating less meat by having "meat free" Mondays and have been gradually moving to multiple days. I don't find it that difficult. I saw an interesting quote....
"If the average American cut just a quarter pound of beef a week from their diet, about one hamburger, it would be the equivalent of taking 10 million cars off the road for a year."

Agriculture is responsible for about 9% of US greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock farming contributes around half of that. Transportation contributes 29% of greenhouse gas emissions. The remaining 62% is commercial/residential, industry and electricity generation. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions

So while the effect sounds impressive, it seems a bit out of proportion.

Whatever. People will argue about the effects of livestock farming and different farming methods on the environment and greenhouse gases until the cows come home......

 

[Beststash]

Whatever. People will argue about the effects of livestock farming and different farming methods on the environment and greenhouse gases until the cows come home......

Good points. Based upon your statistics it doesn't seem that significant.

I live in rural Central Texas and I have cattle. As someone that raises cattle only for the property tax exemption and thinks about the herbicide, fertilizer, clearing of land for grazing and hay production that I do, I know it must have a significant impact on the environment and that doesn't even include the methane emissions. Throw in the health benefits of eating less meat, a meat substitute might be something that will contribute to have a more sustainable planet.

I'm all for technology replacing meat, especially if it is delicious and nutritious and over time that might be possible?

 

[audreyh1]

I'm all for technology replacing meat, especially if it is delicious and nutritious and over time that might be possible?

If it’s grain-based, and obviously highly processed, then I really don’t want to eat it. And frankly don’t see the point.

If it’s an animal-like protein (with some fat I hope) grown in a lab - I don’t know what to think. Not sure I would want to eat it either. Who knows what kind of unexpected health effects might be caused by it. As long as real food is available, I’ll prefer that.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Throw in the health benefits of eating less meat, a meat substitute might be something that will contribute to have a more sustainable planet.

Vegan, or at least plant based and reduced meat diets, are pretty popular in our area. One of our kids bought the food for a large group camping trip recently and said half the campers were vegans. According to worldwide farming study published in the journal Science, avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce one's environmental impact on the planet.

 

[audreyh1]

Vegan, or at least plant based and reduced meat diets, are pretty popular in our area. One of our kids bought the food for a large group camping trip recently and said half the campers were vegans. According to worldwide farming study published in the journal Science, avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce one's environmental impact on the planet.

Sorry, that just doesn’t wash when only 9% of US greenhouse gas emissions are coming from all agriculture (meat, dairy and plants).

Seems like there are many opportunities to reduce one’s impact on the plant. Energy production, transportation, industry, commercial and residential.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Sorry, that just doesn’t wash when only 9% of US greenhouse gas emissions are coming from all agriculture (meat, dairy and plants).

Seems like there are many opportunities to reduce one’s impact on the plant. Energy production, transportation, industry, commercial and residential.

I'm not sure if you read the entire article in the link, but the researchers went beyond the U.S. and just greenhouse gas emissions, they "created a huge dataset based on almost 40,000 farms in 119 countries and covering 40 food products that represent 90% of all that is eaten. It assessed the full impact of these foods, from farm to fork, on land use, climate change emissions, freshwater use and water pollution (eutrophication) and air pollution (acidification)....“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use,” said Joseph Poore, at the University of Oxford, UK, who led the research. “It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car,” he said, as these only cut greenhouse gas emissions."


Even the paleo guy from the last big conference with the top nutritionists from around the world agreed to minimizing red meat from their consensus diet recommendations, because he acknowledged it was not a sustainable diet choice for the entire planet, "In the spirit of the conference, he did make a concession: Red meat, a staple of a Paleolithic diet, “is a real problem” due to its carbon footprint, said Eaton, and he proposed a more sustainable Paleo diet that instead derives its protein from plant sources, poultry, and seafood."

 

[audreyh1]

I'm not sure if you read the entire article in the link, but the researchers went beyond the U.S. and just greenhouse gas emissions, they "created a huge dataset based on almost 40,000 farms in 119 countries and covering 40 food products that represent 90% of all that is eaten. It assessed the full impact of these foods, from farm to fork, on land use, climate change emissions, freshwater use and water pollution (eutrophication) and air pollution (acidification)....“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use,” said Joseph Poore, at the University of Oxford, UK, who led the research. “It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car,” he said, as these only cut greenhouse gas emissions."

They also made errors and ended up with an unbalanced analysis. Made some corrections but still not complete. https://theconversation.com/yes-eat...nt-but-cows-are-not-killing-the-climate-94968

We can go on and on slinging links. What’s the point?

In the meantime, the world is not going to turn predominantly vegan, so I don’t get this campaign. Deprive the less efficient at food producing developing nations of their animal protein? That doesn’t seem fair.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

They also made errors and ended up with an unbalanced analysis. Made some corrections but still not complete. https://theconversation.com/yes-eat...nt-but-cows-are-not-killing-the-climate-94968

We can go on and on slinging links. What’s the point?

In the meantime, the world is not going to turn predominantly vegan, so I don’t get this campaign. Deprive the less efficient at food producing developing nations of their animal protein? That doesn’t seem fair.

I didn't see anything in the article about the study I linked to. The experts who study nutrition and climate change have to figure out a way to feed 10 billion people by 2050 sustainably, and plant based diets seem to be the majority recommended solution.

 

[audreyh1]

I didn't see anything in the article about the study I linked to. The experts who study nutrition and climate change have to figure out a way to feed 10 billion people by 2050 sustainably, and plant based diets seem to be the majority recommended solution.

Whatever. EAT-Lancet Commission - more food politics run amuck.

 

[joeea]

What makes me laugh is the fakery involved - why call it meat?

Most call is "burgers".

 

[MichaelB]

Beyond Beef ingredients

Water, Pea Protein Isolate*, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Refined Coconut Oil, Rice Protein, Natural Flavors, Cocoa Butter, Mung Bean Protein, Methylcellulose, Potato Starch, Apple Extract, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Vinegar, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Sunflower Lecithin, Pomegranate Fruit Powder, Beet Juice Extract (for color).

Impossible Burger ingredients

Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12.

 

[Bestwifeever]

They should call it Velmeata

 

[braumeister]

They should call it Velmeata

Perfect!

As the saying goes, "Bud Light is to beer what Velveeta is to cheese."

 

[zedd]

Grass-finished Black Angus steer ingredients:
Beef

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I am keenly aware of the animal welfare issues with the meat industry. I buy a fair amount of free range chicken. Other than that I mostly eat game that I personally harvest and I buy the odd quarter or half of pasture-raised pork. DD is vegetarian and DW does not eat mammals, so we have a fair number of veggie meals. We like to garden and forage, and we keep coturnix quail for eggs.

That is the largely self sufficient kind of life one of our kids dreams about having some day - hunting, fishing, small livestock, bee keeping and gardening.

 

[Gumby]

We get our meat delivered monthly from Walden Local Meat Co. They provide pasture-raised local beef, pork, lamb and chicken from farms in New England and upstate New York. We get 6-7 lbs delivered every month for the two of us. We get eggs from a woman in town who raises chickens in her back yard.

I don't ever see us switching to ersatz meat or going vegetarian.

 

[NW-Bound]

Get caught up on the changes to our food supply. Businesses like "Beyond Meat" coming on board quickly. And... what about insects as food?

Just a heads up.

https://www.cbinsights.com/research/future-of-meat-industrial-farming/

What I found interesting is the lab-grown meat. There was a stir in the media about this a few years ago, then not much is talked about it since.

From the above link:

Lab-grown or “cultured meat” could be a bridge between real meat and plant-based products.

San Francisco-based Memphis Meats produces meat from self-reproducing cells, thereby producing meat that is an “animal-based” product but avoiding the need to breed, raise, and slaughter huge numbers of animals.

The company debuted its first synthetic meatball in 2016 and followed up with the world’s first cell-cultured chicken and duck in 2017...

What people may not realize is that this non-animal meat is nothing like animal flesh. It is not nourished with blood, so is just membranes of white cells that grow from a solution of nutrients, then are processed into food by addition of spices and other ingredients to add flavor. The final product is highly processed food, whether you consider it good or bad.


Here's the description from a reporter who got to taste lab-grown chicken.

As I chewed my nugget, I realized that though its taste asymptotically approached chicken, it was not, alas, chicken. It was crunchy, thanks to the fried, breaded coating; it was flavorful, thanks to the salt and spices inside; and its innards were creamy, which frankly is an improvement on the graininess of most processed nuggets. But it lacked the gamey animal kick that screams “chicken.”

For more, see: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/04/just-finless-foods-lab-grown-meat/587227/.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

This was on the Treehugger site today:

https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/epicures-gathered-france-bug-wine-pairing.html

"A noteworthy event took place last month in Tours, France. It was the first-ever International Bug & Wine Pairing, bringing together sommeliers and chefs to explore the unique flavors and textures provided by insects, and to learn about the tremendous potential of these high-protein, low-impact foods."

 

[Rustic23]

I picked up some beyond meat 'taco meat' at Kroger. Now it was a few months ago, so I may have the name wrong, BUT, what I do remember, is the dog got half of it!

 

[harley]

I'm all for people going vegan, just like I'm all for people continuing to work. More burgers and social security for me. And lower demand should result in lower prices.

I know it's nearly impossible to go low carb on a vegan diet. And since that's the only thing that has ever worked for me, I'm sticking with real meat. I don't believe the carbon footprint issues anyway. I suspect that that will go the way of "lots of whole grains, avoid saturated fats to get healthy" science. Eventually people without a predetermined opinion will look at the facts and we'll get a clearer answer.

 

[FreeBear]

I picked up some beyond meat 'taco meat' at Kroger. Now it was a few months ago, so I may have the name wrong, BUT, what I do remember, is the dog got half of it!

What did the dog think? Better than dog food, or a draw??

 

[Rustic23]

He ate it, but here again, he has eaten just about everything but green olives. lol