# Lab pork - the end of vegetarianism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-pork-the-end-of-vegetarianism/535629 "2010-04-10T12:57:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-pork-the-end-of-vegetarianism/535629/21 "2010-04-13T12:43:05Z")
who’s up for pork smoothies? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-pork-the-end-of-vegetarianism/535629/22 "2010-04-13T13:13:34Z")
Let’s see… there are many reasons people eat no meat. _Objection to cruelty faced by meat animals_ This group may eat vat-grown meat because no animals were harmed to make it. _Objection to resource use by meat animals_ This group will need more info. If vat-grown meat proves to use less resorces per unit of nutrition than animals, they may support it. If it uses less resources than vegetables for the same nutrition, they will support it. _Religious objection to meat_ _Dislike of meat’s taste, texture, etc_ _Dislike of meat’s effects on the body_ These groups won’t change their opinions, because they aren’t based on the origin of the meat. _Objection to corporate origins of meat_ This group may or may not eat vat-grown meat, depending on whether large corporations create it. Logically, these people shouldn’t eat corporate vegetables, either, and meat from small producers should meet their approval. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-pork-the-end-of-vegetarianism/535629/23 "2010-04-13T13:19:43Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > _Objection to resource use by meat animals_ > This group will need more info. If vat-grown meat proves to use less resorces per unit of nutrition than animals, they may support it. If it uses less resources than vegetables for the same nutrition, they will support it. I don’t think there are many people who are vegetarians because of sustainability concerns, but I agree that this will be a much less important advance if it doesn’t significantly reduce land use for grazing animals. ---
**Author:** ![Galileo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Galileo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galileo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-pork-the-end-of-vegetarianism/535629/24 "2010-04-13T13:47:41Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Let’s see… there are many reasons people eat no meat. Reminds me of one of my friends who changed his diet from almost exclusively animal products to vegetarian, mainly for health reasons, but supported by ethical reasons. He kept telling me about these vegetarian burgers, sausages, and hot dogs that he discovered that were “really tasty” – they tasted just like meat! A few months later, he was no longer a vegetarian. My diet was vegetarian for about five years, and then I started including animal products for practical and social reasons. I \*prefer \*a vegetarian diet for a variety of reasons, but I’ve decided to trade off some of the benefits. I have no interest in eating lab pork. But, if it tasted like tofu … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@Electric\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-pork-the-end-of-vegetarianism/535629/25 "2010-04-13T15:59:38Z")
A significant proportion of vegetarians I know would think that lab-grown meat was unnatural and scary, so, no. Personally, I would feel a lot better about eating meat if it was completely cruelty-free, “Frankenfood” or not. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-pork-the-end-of-vegetarianism/535629/26 "2010-04-13T19:01:14Z")
A former poster [said it best](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7288287&postcount=45): > [@](#): > > I’m not sure why this is, but I actually find this idea grosser than cannibalism. He was talking about human meat grown from cultured human cells, but quite frankly, I’d say this sums up my feelings. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-pork-the-end-of-vegetarianism/535629/27 "2010-04-13T19:17:09Z")
Hmm. I suppose the real question is whether you would eat lab-grown meat or not, veggie or no. It does bring up a hell of a lot of questions. Seems a lot of people, vegetarian or no, object on the basis that it was grown in a lab, even if it could eventually be indistinguishable from meat taken from a live animal. Is it distasteful(no pun intended) because it’s meat? Despite the fact that a large portion of readily available produce, vegetable, fruit, and meat alike has been genetically modified already? Obviously the implications of this type of research could have a wide-reaching and profound impact on the ever-growing issues of malnutrition and starvation throughout the world; the same kind of impact that already genetically modified crops such as corn and soybeans has had already. Is growing meat in a lab really that big of a leap? Livestock throughout the world, the US especially, has been extensively fucked with by science(to use the technical term:p), either by feeding them genetically modified feed, administering growth hormones, and/or actually altering their DNA. Ironically, the possibility looms that lab-grown meat could actually be healthier for you. That’s just the tip of the iceberg off the top of my head at the moment. There are certainly many many more questions lacking clear answers about this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lab-pork-the-end-of-vegetarianism/535629.md?page=1)