[sudo-discuss] DystopiaNews: Veggie-meat: you don't have to eat bugs.

Thu May 16 15:23:49 PDT 2013

I'm really not sure why you seem to be so vehemently opposed to a more
insect-based diet, other than the "yuck" factor, which is entirely
cultural. Insects are an important protein source for many 3rd world
cultures.

As for Beyond Meat's vat grown meat - that will likely *always* be aimed at
the top of the high-end market, and likely far, far more resource intensive
for the planet than the worst of the cattle factory farming practices - at
least for the foreseeable future.

If you want populations to start eating lower on the food chain for the
good of the planet, then switching some from beef to insects makes a ton of
sense. Switching people from beef to vat-grown meat does *not*, and may
never...

Several years ago, Oron Catts and others were involved in a bio art project
where they grew a tiny chunk of muscle cells in the lab, and then invited
some volunteers to eat it as a piece of performance art. The crux is that
you need a plasma-like medium to grow muscle cells on, so to grow the tiny
chunk of muscle cells, they used up the equivalent of an entire cow's worth
of blood!

Beyond Meat's process is not quite as bad as that - they actually figured
out a completely synthetic growth medium to grow their "meat" on. But
chances are that synthetic growth medium is still composed of various
purified amino acids, which eventually have been produced from various
yeast, soy, or even animal protein sources! So you're still left with a
huge environmental burden to produce a tiny amount of extremely expensive
high-tech "veggie" meat...

Patrik

On Wed, May 15, 2013 at 5:31 PM, GtwoG PublicOhOne <g2g-public01 at att.net>wrote:

>
>
>
> For the second day in a row, the BBC runs an article promoting the
> virtues of eating bugs, this time on their Travel blog:
>
> http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20130513-is-crawly-cuisine-the-future
>
> Pictured is a handful of moth larvae grubs found in Australia: plump
> translucent white squirmy things that look like hairless caterpillars or
> overgrown maggots. The caption says that they are "...said to have a
> crispy skin with a yellow 'eggy' centre when roasted."
>
> Mmm-mmm-good, right?
>
> The article goes on to say, "According to the UN report, 'consumer
> disgust' remains a large barrier in many Western countries – but for
> some two billion people across the world, eating insects is really no
> big deal."
>
> Unsaid: five billion people in the world right now don't eat bugs.
> Though, the Beeb does get credit for mentioning "consumer disgust," also
> known as the vomit-reflex, even if only as a "barrier," with the
> implication that it's something to be overcome, like the desire for
> freedom & privacy.
>
> As I mentioned yesterday, there are plenty of other solutions to feeding
> a world that's overpopulated by a factor of two and overconsuming beyond
> any sustainable limit. One of them is veggie-meat: vegetable matter
> that's cooked up to be almost identical to the meat we already eat.
>
> For this we turn to another regular source of Dystopian News, namely
> Wired magazine. Yes, "real geeks don't read Wired," but Wired is
> actually a good place to keep your finger on the pulse of the corporate
> oligarchy and the promoters of the computer-as-God religion.
> Occasionally they run something that's actually good news, such as the
> following:
>
> http://www.wired.com/business/2013/05/future-meat/
>
> Beyond Meat is a new company that produces veggie-meat that's a drop-in
> replacement for chicken in many recipes. They share the market with
> other companies such as Tofurkey and Boca Burgers. At present most of
> these products are found in the Vegan aisle in supermarkets, but the
> goal of these companies is to put them right next to the meat products
> in the meat section.
>
> Veggie-meat tastes good and has great potential to stretch the world's
> food supply. Unlike the moth grubs pictured in the Beeb article, it's
> something you'd choose to eat and enjoy eating.
>
> So far the oligarchy is ignoring veggie-meat. Funding for veggie-meat
> companies typically comes from "angel investors" who consider themselves
> rebels and often have altruistic motives alongside the profit motive.
>
> The oligarchy's mission, should you choose to acquiesce, is to make you
> submit. Eating bugs is not about preventing hunger, it's about cultural
> shock & awe: getting you to do something that grosses you out and makes
> you want to throw up, the easier to get you to submit to other
> depredations over time.
>
> But as Beyond Meat shows, you don't have to submit, as long as you're
> willing to think for yourself, and exercise your own free will.
>
> -G.
>
>
> =====
>
>
>
> On 13-05-14-Tue 12:07 AM, GtwoG PublicOhOne wrote:
> >
> > YOs-
> >
> > The oligarchy has its own vision of the World of Tomorrow, and the world
> > they're preparing for us to live in whether we like it or not.  I'll be
> > writing occasional pieces about items in the news, to point out what's
> > behind the chirpy spin.  This is the first of many.  Fasten your seat
> > belts and keep a barf bag handy.
> >
> > -G.
> >
> >
> > Let Them Eat Bugs.
> >
> > The United Nations today released a report that touted the benefits of
> > eating insects as a solution to world hunger.
> > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-22508439
> >
> > Hint: it's not really about hunger, it's about making you submit.
> >
> > Humans have four main categories for things they could potentially put
> > in their mouths:  Food, Not-food, Dirt, and People (cannibalism).  (The
> > categories "Medicine," "Drugs," and "Poison" serve a different set of
> > purposes.)
> >
> > Food is stuff you want to eat: such as a piece of fruit.  Not-Food is
> > stuff you don't want to eat, but the thought of eating it doesn't gross
> > you out: such as a piece of paper.  Dirt is stuff you don't want to eat,
> > and the thought of eating it does gross you out: such as a turd.  And
> > the thought of eating people (cannibalism) also grosses you out: such as
> > roast leg of human.
> >
> > Much of this is cultural.  In American culture, cow is Food (beef); in
> > Hindu culture such as in India, cow is People (reincarnation of human
> > souls).  In some regions of Africa, fish is Dirt.  To Muslims and Jews,
> > pork is Dirt, and to Jews, shellfish is also Dirt.  In some parts of the
> > world, insects are Food, but to most of us in America, insects are Dirt.
> >
> > The fact that culture plays a role does not change the fact that the
> > thought of eating something you've been raised to regard as Dirt (or
> > People), triggers feelings of disgust and often an involuntary vomit
> > reflex.  Try eating breakfast while looking at the results of a picture
> > search for "feces".
> >
> > It's not about world hunger.
> >
> > The wealthy nations presently throw away enough food to feed the hungry
> > of the world.  Beyond that, even a slight reduction in meat consumption
> > would be sufficient to free up enough vegetable calories and protein to
> > do the job.
> >
> > In terms of ecological impacts, the root causes of hunger are
> > overpopulation (animals including humans multiply up to the limits of
> > their food supply) and overconsumption (e.g. Americans are about 5% of
> > the world's people, consuming about 28% of the world's resources).
> > There is no real empirical need to persuade you to eat wormburgers
> > ("would you like flies with that?").
> >
> > However, the oligarchy has no desire to offend Big Church by supporting
> > family planning and birth control.  And the oligarchy has no desire to
> > offend its own major religion, Big Capitalism, by supporting lower
> > consumption levels as a cultural value.  Why piss off your cronies, when
> > you can manipulate the masses and open up a whole new "market" with vast
> > opportunities for profit...?
> >
> > Notice what wasn't said.
> >
> > The UN didn't say "encourage family planning."  The UN didn't say "equal
> > rights for women" or even "equal education for women", which are known
> > to reduce birth rates to sustainable levels and increase economic
> > security as women gain choices and power.  The UN didn't say "wealthy
> > nations should reduce waste."  The UN didn't say "eat a little less meat
> > each week."
> >
> > Also the UN didn't say "stop growing corn to produce alcohol to put in
> > your gas tanks, and use that land to grow food for humans."  And the UN
> > didn't say "let's find ways to turn algae into food," algae being an
> > abundant source of vegetable matter, usually thought of as Not-Food but
> > rarely thought of as Dirt.  How do you feel about eating a burger made
> > from algae?  How do you feel about eating a burger made from beetles?
> >
> > This is a useful technique for analyzing media: looking at what isn't
> > said, the problems that aren't mentioned, the solutions that aren't
> > discussed, the proposals that aren't on the table.  Very often the
> > exclusion zone isn't obvious.  Would you have thought of algae?
> >
> > What it's really about: shock & awe.
> >
> > Envision the headline, "UN urges Muslims to eat pork to fight world
> > hunger!" or "UN urges Jews to eat shellfish to fight world hunger!"  The
> > outrage would be obvious.  Even if you happen to like pork or shellfish,
> > the thought of your Jewish and Muslim friends being somehow obligated
> > (typically by economic pressure) to eat them, would make you want to
> > stand with them and fight for their right to say No.
> >
> > Eating bugs is part of the cultural "shock and awe" treatment on the
> > American public, along with "no more privacy" and "free speech zones"
> > and mass foreclosures and domestic drones.  If you can be forced (not by
> > threat of prison, but by threat of economic consequences if you don't
> > "choose" to do as you're told) to violate one of your most visceral
> > personal and cultural limits, a limit that's backed up by your vomit
> > reflex, you aren't going to resist when they try to force you to do
> > other things against your will.
> >
> > Your will does not matter to the oligarchy.  Only their will matters.
> > And their goal is to impose their will upon yours by every means
> > possible.  If they get you to "like it" or at least "adapt," it becomes
> > that much easier to get you to "like it" or "adapt" to the next thing
> > and then the next.
> >
> > It's like getting people to "accept" pervasive domestic surveillance by
> > first getting them to "accept" torture as policy.  If people don't
> > revolt against the biggest outrage of all, they aren't going to revolt
> > against the next smaller one, and the next after that.  Failure to
> > revolt is acceptance by acquiescence.
> >
> > Ultimately it's not about the bugs, or even the algae.  It's about
> > getting you to submit:  "You are going to do what we tell you.  And you
> > are going to like it.  Because we say so."
> >
> > As far as the oligarchy is concerned, it's all about human husbandry:
> > YOU are Food.
> >
> > -G.  (creative commons; non-commercial use, with attribution)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>
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