There’s been a lot of buzz lately. Soon, we’ll all be eating test tube meat! Soon, we’ll all be vegan! And, perhaps – most disturbingly for the average American citizen – soon we’ll all be snacking on bugs!
Scary.
Want to know why? The world’s population is likely headed to 9 billion by the year 2050, and the more people get used to eating meat, the more they will obviously incorporate it into their diets. Naturally, meat doesn’t grow on trees. Live cows are necessary to produce select cuts of beef, which require labor, space, and resources. Considering the statistic that seven pounds of feed are required per pound of beef produced and that beef production generates 24 times more green houses gases than vegetables, there is a wholly unsustainable issue on our hands. Couple that with the fact that global meat consumption is expected to double in the next 40 years and you can understand why researchers have been fast at work, investigating alternative protein sources for the future.
So what exactly are the leading contenders for alternative meat and protein sources? Check it out below:
Test tube meat, stem cell beef, Frankenburger. Whatever you want to call it, there has been plenty of attention given to it thanks to London-based scientist-turned-chef Professor Mark Post. Recently, he was successful in creating a burger patty grown out of a petri dish utilizing beef stem cells. Yum? Or gross? Whatever your opinion, when the beef was test-tasted by professional food experts, they gave it average marks, but added that it could do with more salt and taste. Besides taste however, another point of contention would have to be how expensive the meat currently costs to produce. At roughly $325,000 a patty, we don’t think they will be selling these at your local grocer anytime soon.
Perhaps test tube meat is too far fetched for us to wrap our heads around. What about alternative sources? No, we don’t mean chicken. Apparently, more and more people are catching on that bugs are the most effective and cheapest way of getting nutrients such as fiber, iron, magnesium, zinc, and, of course, protein. Naturally, already being a secret unlocked in countries abroad, with approximately 2 billion people already incorporating them into their diet, this seems like the most cost effective way to get your nutrients in… Right?
3) Going Vegan
Third option? Go vegan. The least “appalling” (shall we say) of the three possible worldwide solutions to this meat dilemma, it would seem only natural to go veggie! With protein being found naturally in plants, beans, nuts, peas, and grains, the debate over whether or not vegans get enough protein is MOOT. However, as we have learned in the past, people don’t like being told what to do (or what not to do), let alone what to eat. So, this might be a far cry, but hey, it has received much validity especially in the last 10 years.
How would you solve this meat dilemma?
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I’m a vegetarian not for health or particularly political reasons, but because I love animals. I think different bodies need different things to be healthy so I wouldn’t presume to tell other people what to eat. I would encourage meat eaters to not eat SO MUCH meat though, as the average american apparenty does, and to try to get responsibly, humanely made meat.