Genuine question. So how does lab grown meat come into play with vegans? Would you eat it if it was widely available? Would it be considered vegan?
I'm mexican and I think Vegans are right to an extent and I eat mostly vegetables anyways, but meat is a part of my culture so if an alternative existed that to me seems to follow veganism I would say that's a net good right?
I asked my aunt and uncle(who have been vegans since like 1985) and they said that kind of thing, specifically the Beyond Burger, was primarily made for people who eat meat but want to try something plant based. Which is fair; they haven't eaten an actual burger in 35 years, why start now? They're also outliers in being the humblest vegans I've ever know. Never got a single lecture from them about my bacon eating ways, though I guess my cousin made up for it.
Vegan for only 6 years but I'd eat lab grown meat just as I now eat plant-based substitutes for meat (Beyond Burgers esp). I understand other Vegans argue that lab grown meat isn't truly vegan since it's tested against real meat in it's development, but frankly by metrics like that almost anything could be considered non-vegan. Though if that lab meat was hugely environmentally wasteful, in the same way that meat is now, I wouldn't eat it.
Though I'm not actually that optimistic that lab grown meat will be revolutionary. Vegan meat substitutes right now are generally pretty good imo (cheese sucks, but whatever) and yet I don't think its had that much of an impact on converting people to veganism. Unless lab grown meat is absolutely indistinguishable in price and taste from normal meat, I can't see it being much more than a novelty to most omnivores.
I'm on pretty much the same page, though I don't know if I'd actually eat it, given that I've never eaten meat. I'd probably go back to my pescetarianism if lab grown fish, eggs and dairy were possible.
I strongly suspect that lab-grown meat would be a lot closer to the real thing than meat alternatives. Possibly even indistinguishable
I feel very called out. I generally try to eat less meat, but can't quite bring myself to give it up completely.
Random question: Is it possible to feed a cat/dog/snake on a plant-based diet?
Big time struggle session material here, but I don't think it's ethical to feed a vegan diet to your omnivorous or carnivorous pets. The are lots of unknowns/uncertainties about the long term health impacts, and it's unfair to choose that on behalf of an animal that can't consent or give input.
Do not make your cat vegan. They can get really sick, and you could even go to jail for animal abuse.
Can't say about dogs but cats are strict carnivores given they cannot endogenously produce certain proteins which they get from their diet.
Hmm, interesting.
The other thing I struggle with about having a pet is the notion of ownership. Like having anything live in a fuckin cage, or trapped at home during an 8-hour shift. Unless I have a family or co-op with rotating schedules, it feels kinda barbaric.
I think the language is more controversial than the actual activity. Adopting and raising a pet is basically the same thing as adopting and raising a child. We shouldn't get hung up on the word "ownership". That's just what we call it because our society feels the need to define everything in terms of property and profit. But I know plenty of people who are making a push to try and use "guardian" langauge instead in reference to their pets.
I think animal breeding is awful and should be stopped because it causes horrible deformities and health issues. Strays should be spayed/neutered with the eventual goal of no strays because they fuck up the local environment. Adoption is cool and good because otherwise those animals would have miserable lives. I don't know if there's an ethical way to continue to have pets in the future. With no breeding, there would only be babies when animals had consensual intercourse but when is it okay to separate them from their parents? Is it ever okay?
Also don't own a snake. They're God's veggie fries and she don't wanna share
An added point to ones mentioned here is that many of the required amino acids lacking in plants that need to be supplemented in hypothetical vegan cat food, are already coming from plant sources in standard cat food because its cheaper, I believe most use industrial fermentation
