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Comment by OrvalWintermute | Hacker News Reader

I imagine insect "meat" would be far cheaper than this.

Now, I don't know how people feel about eating Charlotte & Hopper over Elsie & Foghorn Leghorn - probably wouldn't be too bad with the right sauce

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I mean, beyond/impossible already are a pretty good simulacrum of some kinds of meat. If what you're trying to do is simulate meat, I don't think you're going to do better wth insects. If what you're trying to do is just have good protein, we already have tons of options, starting at beans. But sure, insects is another. (I ate a bunch of Brood X cicadas this summer, they were tasty. They did not make me think they were beef or chicken).

I think the idea of lab-grown meat in the OP is supposed to be a much better simulation (I mean, arguably not a simulation at all) than impossible/beyond, and be able to simulate whole pieces like a steak or piece of chicken not just ground meat.

But yeah, that's a question I have, with plant-based meat like beyond/impossible already being way better than I would have predicted a few years ago... what's the point of spending so much money on the "moon shot" of vat-grown meat, instead of just doing more with the plant-based approach that's already working well?

Needing to fake meat mouthfeels will hopefully be a short trend. Beyond/impossible requires so much processing to produce a patty (and in the process, potentially losing nutrition), versus mashing beans or grinding insects.

Beyond/impossible "meat" are a mess of extremely heavily processed ingredients infused with a mix of low quality enzyme-treated plant protein broth. Doesn't sound like anything anyone sane would want to touch, but then again most people don't read labels on food, and in some countries (USA) most of the disturbing details (such as inclusion of GMO) are legally allowed to be hidden from the consumers. There's no shortage of reports of these things stinking, bubbling, falling apart, dissolving, and behaving in many other unappetizing ways. Most people will stick to regular meat, which is healthy and delicious.

Right, and vat-grown meat will require even more resources, as per OP, if it were even possible.

If people were or could become happy with beans or even ground insects, there would be no purpose to it at all. But when we have plant-baset meat simulation already, there already is no purpose to it.

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