
The struggle to name lab-grown meat - laurex
https://qz.com/1767441/cultured-or-cell-based-the-struggle-to-name-lab-grown-meat/
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jdsully
There's a parallel issue with traditional meat farmers banding together to
prevent labelling this as "meat". I agree with them when it comes to plant
based meat imitators but cultured meat is a harder sell for me. This is actual
meat tissue.

~~~
larnmar
If the French can stop you from calling your chemically identical sparkling
white wine “Champagne”, I see no reason why meat farmers shouldn’t be able to
stop you from calling your industrially-grown bovine cell culture “meat”.

~~~
jdsully
Champagne is the name of a region, and the grapes and finally the wine inherit
the name from that region. Because the taste of grapes are affected by weather
the actual region of production makes a difference. I don't consider it quite
the same thing.

That said, there is little consistency in how things are named and often it
comes down to the relative power of one special interest over another. We
shall see how this shakes out.

~~~
glandium
FWIW, the grapes aren't called Champagne. Champagne sparkling wine usually
uses Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier or Chardonnay grapes.

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Severian
Just use what William Gibson does and call it "Vat grown"

 _" Jesus," Molly said, her own plate empty, "gimme that. You know what this
costs?" She took his plate. 'They gotta raise a whole animal for years and
then they kill it. This isn't vat stuff." She forked a mouthful up and
chewed._ \- Neuromancer

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daenz
What about "ethical meat"?

I love meat, but I still think killing an animal for food, when you don't
_really_ have to, is an ethical gray area. Lab-grown meat is the first time we
don't have to consider the ethics of killing an animal in order to eat meat.

~~~
OnlineGladiator
Fun fact: all the lab grown meat today requires fetal bovine serum - they
literally kill newborn calves and suck the juices out of their hearts to grow
these meats.

[https://slate.com/technology/2017/07/the-gruesome-truth-
abou...](https://slate.com/technology/2017/07/the-gruesome-truth-about-lab-
grown-meat.html)

~~~
lonelappde
Why not abort the fetuses?

~~~
OnlineGladiator
No idea - I assume because it's easier? This isn't my wheelhouse. I just
remember when I found out I was surprised it seemed nobody else knew (at least
everybody else I told seemed surprised) since it's pushed so heavily as an
ethical alternative to meat and they're still killing animals to make it.

~~~
AstralStorm
Once the culture is started you don't have to kill more calves. Of course,
accidents when growing cell cultures still happen.

~~~
OnlineGladiator
But how much meat do you get from each culture?

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seph-reed
I've been hearing it called "Shmeat" since almost 2008. Appears that word has
been given a new definition since then.

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ggm
Maet. _" have some maet, mate"_

(this is a riff on mylk which is what the nuts are doing over the dairy aisle)

Soy links are universally crap. Nut loaf is better. Not<x> is quite popular,
but the meat aisle packers are now fighting back, ring-fencing the vegan fake
meat options to a slum stand at the end.

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msla
Steal from science fiction: ChickieNobs

[http://remotestorage.blogspot.com/2010/07/margaret-
atwoods-c...](http://remotestorage.blogspot.com/2010/07/margaret-atwoods-
chickienobs.html)

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sandoooo
factory meat? ivf-meat? meat-that-may-or-may-not-contain-human-genetic-
material? meat(lol)? bambi-approved meat?

I'd still eat it if they make it taste like wagyu tbh. Maybe they should
popularize it by donating it to food banks and set quotas for it on food
stamps.

~~~
larnmar
Sure, if there’s one thing that will convince the masses that they should be
eating weird vat-grown animal tissue, it’s telling them “Hey, all the poor
people are doing it!”

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TallGuyShort
Does it taste like sadness, like in Better Off Ted?

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drannex
'Clean Meat' is my preferred nomenclature when describing it to people. They
seem more open to it than anything else.

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thrill
I guess Soylent Green is taken?

~~~
zamadatix
"Soylent" is an actual liquid food product. Wasn't nearly as bad as I was
expecting, name gave me a chuckle.

~~~
chrisseaton
That was the joke.

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sandoooo
'semen-free meat'

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kevin_thibedeau
Synflesh

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jpm_sd
Feat

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GreeniFi
It’s Impossible!

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tehlike
DEADBEEF

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rglover
Imeatation

Meatshift (makeshift)

Fabricow

Immicow

Tubesteak <\-- Come on!

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dboreham
TVP?

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Falling3
That's already taken by "textured vegetable protein".

~~~
dboreham
Which is why I mentioned it.

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buboard
ugh, just take a page from tech marketing. Virtual meat or Smart meat or Cloud
meat or Meatless meat . Or just Frankestein Meat

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golemotron
The article side-steps the ethical issue lurking behind lab-grown meat. Many
animals would never have had a life if they hadn't been raised for food.

~~~
p1necone
There are infinitely many possible lives that didn't happen for infinitely
many different reasons. I'm not sure it makes sense to value hypothetical
lives.

