# Will Meat Just Be Obsolete Some Day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 28, 2020, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515 "2020-06-28T13:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/121 "2020-07-04T19:42:04Z")
Certainly true it won’t go away _totally_ – at least not for a damn long time. There will still be cattle ranches, cowboys, butchers, and steak-lovers, just the way there are still people making horseshoes. But some day – probably a lot sooner than anyone expects – we’ll have _really good_ fake meats, just as, right now, we have “fairly decent” fake meats. Or meats on a smaller ecological footprint, like turkey bacon. Turkey bacon, I aver, is pretty darn yummy! ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/122 "2020-07-04T19:48:32Z")
I guess something that puzzles me - and it may just be me - is that there is even a need for “fake meat”. While I do eat meat and enjoy it, I also eat vegetarian and vegan meals and enjoy them for what they are and not how well they emulate something else. But then, I’m probably not the target demographic for fake meat. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/123 "2020-07-04T19:51:41Z")
Primarily ecological. Cattle take up a LOT of land and water, and are less than an optimal use of resources. If we could grow beef like maize, we’d have a more sustainable food economy/ecology. Also it would better help avoid mass starvation worldwide. ETA…I think I just answered a different question than was asked. My apologies! ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/124 "2020-07-04T19:53:59Z")
Except you can raise cattle/other meat animals on land that actually isn’t suitable for food crops. But then the trick is 1. Sustaining the animals on actual pasturage instead of growing grain for them 2. Accepting there will still be vastly less meat raised for market 3. Accepting a higher price for meat. Personally, I’m OK with all three. I suspect quite a few other people might not be. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/125 "2020-07-04T22:31:42Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > But some day – probably a lot sooner than anyone expects – we’ll have _really good_ fake meats, just as, right now, we have “fairly decent” fake meats. Or meats on a smaller ecological footprint, like turkey bacon. Turkey bacon, I aver, is pretty darn yummy! I have no doubt that we’ll at some point be able to make acceptable facsimiles of ground beef, chicken breast, hot dogs, pork tenderloin and maybe even wagyu but I think a lot of people here are suffering from an extreme overconfidence in the progress of technology combined with an underestimation of the complexity of nature. We’ve had margarine for over a century and it’s probably the closest artificial analogue we’ve made and it’s been steadily improving over the years but it still doesn’t taste like butter. Non dairy creamer manifestly does not taste like milk and that’s not even close. Artificial vanilla extract can be an acceptable substitute where it’s one flavor among many but in simple desserts, it still can’t replicate the true complexity of real vanilla beans. And that’s just of the things we’ve actually bothered to try, most things we haven’t even gotten started on because the flavors are either too hard to replicate or uneconomic to replicate at a cost equivalent to what nature provides. Nobody is even trying to make an artificial wine that doesn’t start with grapes or an artificial whiskey that doesn’t involve soaking alcohol in wood for years. Nobody is trying to replicate fermented foods that take weeks or months to produce. Industrial grade acetic acid can be produced for pennies a gallon but despite this, culinary vinegars still start from an organic base rather than just adulterating distilled white vinegar with artificial flavors. And those are just the easy examples of totally homogenous fluids. With meat, you’re also talking about extremely complex textural and structural variations on top of that. Can science create a faux bacon that contains perfectly straight striations of fat and lean in a perfect rectangular form suitable for placing on top of a McDonald’s burger? At some point, probably. Can it replicate the jagged, crispy-chewy tangled knot of muscles that form a real pork belly? I’ll bet not economically for the foreseeable future. Sure, in some instances, people will be fine with the artificial equivalent but they will also demand and enjoy the real deal because it’s its own unique experience that’s worth enjoying. Racks of ribs, chicken wings, lamb shanks and the like are still going to be demanded by people because they’re intrinsically pleasurable eating experiences and the most economical way of delivering that experience at the quality level that a sufficient number of people demand is still going to be the old fashioned way. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2020, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/126 "2020-07-05T13:42:06Z")
Excellent video on sustainable, ecologically beneficial cattle farming in Mexico. Well worth watching. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XsmoJsRWK0Q/maxresdefault.jpg "Chihuahuan Desert Grasslands of Mexico") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsmoJsRWK0Q) Sustainable farming, as opposed to industrial farming, is a thing today. And not just fanciful or daydreaming - it _works_. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2020, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/127 "2020-07-05T23:46:23Z")
Nice video, GreenWyvern. I don’t know to what extent non-farmers appreciate the difference in those two handfuls of soil. A healthy pasture supports a whole lot of species. A monocrop soybean field, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/128 "2020-07-07T10:54:28Z")
Vat-meat would not be a substitute for real meat - it _would_ be real meat. One problem with the vegan option is that several vitamins are difficult to obtain, so substituting vat-meat for meat obtained by killing would be a way of obtaining those vitamins. Maybe in the deep future there will be genetically-modified plant products that supply a full range of vitamins and other nutrients without killing anything with a brain; but the vat-meat solution is much closer to becoming a real possibility. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/129 "2020-07-07T18:14:00Z")
And that’s the other alternative to vat or lab grown meat, is plant grown meat. A little genetic engineering, and you can break open your watermelon to reveal a prime rib. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/130 "2020-07-07T18:19:54Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > you can break open your watermelon to reveal a prime rib. On your very celebration even. I can see you’re celebrating something there. 🙂 There is a cake slice next to your username. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/131 "2020-07-07T18:43:13Z")
apparently it’s my anniversary on the board. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/132 "2020-07-07T18:54:14Z")
Happy Anniversary! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515/133 "2020-07-07T19:03:24Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > just the way there are still people making horseshoes. My gf pays more for the farrier she uses because he custom fits shoes. It’s pretty cool to watch him tweak shoes on the anvil he has mounted to his truck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-meat-just-be-obsolete-some-day/913515.md?page=6)