Final Word: Fake meat actually sounds like real winner
Aug 5, 2013, 8:36 PM | Updated: 8:36 pm
Monday’s headlines are all about A-Rod and the baseball suspensions and the crazy driver who killed someone and injured 11 on the boardwalk in Venice, Calif.
But the story I liked the most has nothing to do with either of those — it has to do with what you maybe had for lunch.
So, the latest in this story is that the mind behind Google, Sergey Brin, is the one who put up the research and development funds to create this fake meat.
It uses the building blocks of beef, at the cellular level, to create a burger that looks, tastes, and chews like beef. The idea behind it is that we have maxed out on our ability as a planet to raise beef cattle without irreparably damaging our environment.
The scientist behind this new Frankenbeef said that as far as the health of the planet is concerned, a vegetarian in a Hummer is better than a meat eater on a bicycle.
If that’s true, then I’m glad someone has at least looked INTO this process. I am not naive enough to think that all meat eaters will warm up to the lab burger, nor should they.
But if 70 percent of the world’s meat consumption, including the fast-food joints and kids’ cafeterias, could be this fake beef that has no virtual carbon footprint, and for the most part, no one missed the real stuff, so be it.
And what if this environmentally friendly process could allow for a higher grade of beef that you could pay for if you choose, say, 30 percent of the time?
Sounds delicious.
