Cultured Meat: The Solution to our Meat-Caused Problems

Eating meat is often a topic of discussion when it comes to staying fit. Protein from animals like cows and chickens is widely popular and eaten all around the world as it’s an important source of energy for us. Red and white meat is enjoyed in various dishes by many different cultures, yet the problem with this food is the impact it has on our environment.

Studies show that the farming industry impacts global warming. Farm animals like cows along with various fertilizers emit different gasses into the atmosphere that strengthen the greenhouse effect- increasing the overall temperature of the earth. As such, some choose not to eat meat in the hopes of bettering the planet. Since I eat meat, I was interested in finding out about a way people are trying to reduce these issues stemming from the food I like.

Recently, scientists trying to halt global warming have produced various ways to help the problem, and one of these inventions is cultivated, clean, or “cultured” meat. Cultured meat is an animal-based protein that is produced in a lab. It isn’t made completely from non-meat substances like black beans, but is made from animal cells and not procured from the whole animal itself. This interesting new foodstuff is planned to follow with certain benefits.

As the meat is now grown from cells, fewer animals will be harmed in the process of making new food. Cultured meat requires less water to be produced along with less land to take up making it. The idea is that when grown correctly, cultured meat should be less taxing on the environment overall. Clean meat is promoted to be as its name suggests, producing less pollution as its non-lab grown counterpart.

While it seems that lab-grown is an obvious fix to our problems, the general public won’t switch over so quickly. Peoples’ distaste for the idea of meat overshadows the outlined benefits. For some, cultured meat is not enough “real” meat. For others, it is not “fake”, or “non-meat” enough, even without the harm caused to animals. Either way, most people are not impressed by its flavor. Both meat-eaters and vegetarians seem unnerved by the idea of protein and do not find it appetizing. As such, clean meat is still not quite feasible in the eyes of many consumers.

Our treatment of the earth we live in and the ways to mitigate the harm we cause are discussed daily. Even though we need solutions to problems like global warming fast, we also need to take our time with these solutions. I’m curious to see whether cultured meat will become the future of our diets and cuisine, as it looks like it isn’t popular yet. However, I think as scientists perfect the flavor of meat more people will be open to the idea of its existence as it’ll become easier to ignore its origins.