So, people who don't eat meat will be eating fake meat to judge if it tastes enough like real meat to get meat eaters to stop eating meat? o.O

Aren't these the same people that inspired the "tofurkey"? :o

I see some con artist getting $1M for something that almost looks right. Kinda like the "stealth" bomber. :P

Yeah it does smell a bit like teetotalers judging a beer tasting contest.

They're hiring a panel of meat-eaters to do the tasting.

It's a good idea, but say I want a steak. Will a lab grown steak be nicely marbled? I think not.

This is actually a bit of a scam.
The point of these types of prizes are to encourage research in areas that are not currently profitable or to push the envelope of what is considered possible.

However, one of the conditions that PETA has placed on claiming the prize is that you have to already be selling it in commercial quantities for the same price as natural meat. And you have to have been doing it for a while by 2012.

It's a catch 22. Anyone who can claim the prize doesn't need to. Add to that the fact that FDA approval takes years to get. So a company could have a perfect process right now but if they can't get it on the shelves and making a profit in less than four years PETA gets to keep their money.

It's a scam designed so that they never have to pay out.

@Ryan H: It's a scam designed so that they never have to pay out.

That makes sense, since PETA is an organization that preaches kindness to animals and kills them by the hundreds. BS is par for the course.

Speaking of weird things that taste like meat, has anyone tried HuFu? or was that just a hoax?

Soooooo, these people that don't want us to kill for meat, but want to eat fake meat and feel good about it? Unles we kill every chicken on earth (goes for pork, beef, etc) then what is the damn problem? Eat the chicken, more will come along. *shakes head*

@Ryan H: All it is meant to do is get some publicity for this type of research.

The tech's new and will take awhile, but if it tastes the same I'd eat it as long as it can be BBQ'd or grilled.

Frankly this seems pretty level headed to me coming from a group like PETA.

Are all PETA members vegetarians?

That said, there are some vegetarian chik'n nuggets on the market right now that are pretty tasty. I wouldn't ever confuse them for the 'real thing', but they sure beat the hell out of McDonalds nuggets.

Some Hot-Dog-On-A-Sticks offer veggie dogs, which I think taste better than their normal corndog. Mostly because the normal dog is turkey, where the veggie one tastes pretty close to a beef hotdog.

Still have yet to make a veggie burger that doesn't suck though. I'll just have to make do with real beef I suppose.

Also, is it lunch time yet? I'm really bloody hungry

@Ryan H: Ahh, now that makes sense, I knew I was missing something.

I am not a vegetarian but i think Quorn fake chicken nuggets taste better than any real chicken nugget i've ever had. They're made from fungus. I also like the Boca fake chicken but it's a tad "eggy" tasting.

Margaret Atwood's ChickieNobs in Oryx & Crake were one of the freakiest details of that novel. I know it's just a rhetorical device on the part of PETA, bout it would be creepily brilliant if a group like PETA ended up sponsoring the genetic engineering of animals without central nervous systems for human consumption. Like, if it has no sentience, then does it matter if it has no rights?

There are a ton of veggie "meat" products out there. They dont taste like real meat... but some of them are pretty close.

Morningstar farms veggie burgers are pretty good. they dont taste like ground cow, but they make a great sandwich. their veggie chik-n patties are pretty damn good too.

I am all for any research and products that will utlimately kill less animals. besides the meat-centric diet that this country has is just unhealthy. People really should eat less meat. Even reducing your weekly meals of meat by 3 or 4 would do a lot to reduce the amount of animals killed. Not to mention, lessening the negative environmental impact the meat industry has on this world and its people.

I'd buy that for a dollar.

@ext212:
that actually looks quite good. although i would prefer if they grilled the tofu a little more.

@craigdawson: Their burgers are too oniony for my taste, but the chik-n patties are pretty good. I love the buffalo nuggets though.

Every now and then PETA does something that's not entirely lame.

what did annoy me was apparently this caused a bit of a civil war in their camp. apparently a large number of them still think eating grown meat is unethical.

sigh.

@Dunny0:
too oniony? hmmm... i guess i would have never felt that way. i like the taste of onion. Morningstar Farms products have almost always tasted better than other brands like Boca or Gardenburger. Although part of that is that some fo the MF products are made with egg (to give it better taste and consistancy), so they are not completely vegan like Boca and Gardenburger.

The fake chik-n patties are delicious. I also love those buffalo nuggets. They have a pretty good kick... although they could have a little bit more of the hot buffalo sauce taste that I do miss from real chicken wings.

Why this is probably crap, ala PZ Myers.

Pharyngula. Read it. Know it. Love it.

"With the prize money on the table, PETA hopes to do for in vitro meat what the Ansari X-Prize did for commercial spaceflight."

They want to make it eventually available for a tiny handful of the super-rich?

This plan actually doesn't annoy me even a little. Very unusual for a PETA program.
-Kle.

@craigdawson: All of Bocas products do strange things to my digestive system. Trust me, the less said the better.

I find adding just a bit of ketchup to the nuggets makes them near perfect. My only real complaint is the amount of crumbs that fall off the darn things.

This whole "artificial meat" issue is one that I'm a bit torn on, on a personal level. I think it's a great idea, and probably a darn good way to save time and money, and might make better use of available resources.

On the other hand, I come from a long line of cattle ranchers, so this would put a chunk of my family out of work for good, and possibly devastate the economy where they live.

I wonder if PETA ever considers the human factor in their campaign for animal rights. I'm all for stopping cruelty to animals (which is why I avoid the majority of family get-togethers @ the ranch) , but at the same time: Top of the food chain, ya know?

people will be affected, and its not good, but i feel the same way about it i do about the auto industry. If more people use public transit the better it is for us. But i saw what cuts to auto jobs did to my hometown in Flint.

Growing meat will be (or at least this is the plan) cheaper, more efficient on resources, and cleaner than other meats. We could feed more people with less resources.

it'll suck for the cattle ranchers that can't get their foot in the door with new tech. But its not the first industry this will have happened to.

Obligatory Soylent Green comment here:

"In vitro nuggets are PEOPLE!"

**A moment of silence for the dearly departed**

While "grown meat" is a good idea, I've always thought a solution to hunger is to grind up edible insects (EXTREMELY nutritious creatures) and make them into new and improved yummy things. Billions of people throughout world history have eaten bugs as a part of their diet, and i think it's time we changed our cultural mindset on them.

also in vitro meat could create a market for long pork (human)

@Dunny0:
I am sure PETA considers the human factor. But when it comes to eating meat, I am sure they would be more than fine to see ranchers go out of business, animals not killed, and people eating healthier vegetarian and vegan food.

I am a little torn on it also (it is still meat - not to mention how it can be tampered with)... and i am sure some other vegetarians, vegans, and im sure quite a few meat eaters would agree.
But the main thing is it will reduce the number of animals being killed for meat. And even if not everyone ate the in-vitro meat... it would surely reduce the "real" meat industry... and a side effect of that will be a cleaner environment with dramatically more vegetarian food resources (think of all that grain that is wasted on feeding billions of cows, pigs, chickens, etc). Enough to considerably help feed poor countries and the poor in our own nation.

I admit, the in-vitro meat sounds a bit freaky... and i would hate to think how it could be tampered with. But as long as it is closely monitored... it should be safe... and people free! ;)

FYI - Boca stuff probably does weird things to your digestive system because your body is not used to all the grains and fiber. When i first started transitioning into a vegetarian diet and i was still eating meat some veggie food gave me similar problems.
Now I would hate to think what my body would do if i tried eating meat. Once I tried eating some shrimp after several months of being vegetarian and my digestive system did not react well at all. i cannot imagine what red meat would do.
enough said!

@Dunny0 and craigdawson: They do consider the human factor, but give it no additional weight. Or to put it another way, the balance animal suffering on par with human suffering, placing species discrimination (as it relates to suffering) on equal footing with race, gender, religion, etc.

So, the balancing act is the same as if you (or I) were balancing unemployment for humans with the killing of humans. Or caging humans. Or skinning humans. Etc.

@92BuickLeSabre: That's a bit of a sobering thought, and well put.

@craigdawson: An x of mine was vegetarian (well, several actually...) and at one point she decided to have some fried chicken. I'm not sure why, but she just had that craving. I should note that she also made the best damn fried chicken I've ever had in my life... Anyway, she made it, ate it... and was sick for a week.

God I miss her chicken. Good stuff.

It would be much easier to grow meat in space than raise cows and chicken.

I hearby endorse this service and/or product.

Count me in just as soon as they start growing Popplers...

Just remember to eat them before they start getting big and scaley.

Isn't this how the ATHF was created? I guess Meatwad was the first. Now we know.

This is just stupid. It's going to take alot of money to produce these fake products. What happens when people don't have enough dough to support their vegetarian lifestyle?

Back to the natural stuff...

Plus since this artificial food has what I would assume to be nothing natural in it's make-up, who knows what it may do to your body. They could be putting things in the fake meat that would make it addictive, forcing a whole gang load of problems to arise