this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2025
157 points (92.9% liked)

News

33283 readers
2060 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I’m in San Francisco, at an Italian joint just south of Golden Gate Park, enjoying meatballs and bacon not made of meat in the traditional sense but of plants mixed with “cultivated” pork fat. Dawn, you see, donated a small sample of fat, which a company called Mission Barns got to proliferate in devices called bioreactors by providing nutrients like carbohydrates, amino acids, and vitamins—essentially replicating the conditions in her body. Because so much of the flavor of pork and other meats comes from the animal’s fat, Mission Barns can create products like sausages and salami with plants but make them taste darn near like sausages and salami.

I’ve been struggling to describe the experience, because cultivated meat short-circuits my brain—my mouth thinks I’m eating a real pork meatball, but my brain knows that it’s fundamentally different and that Dawn (pictured above) didn’t have to die for it. This is the best I’ve come up with: It’s Diet Meat. Just as Diet Coke is an approximation of the real thing, so too are cultivated meatballs. They simply taste a bit less meaty, at least to my tongue. Which is understandable, as the only animal product in this food is the bioreactor-grown fat.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] KaChilde@sh.itjust.works 108 points 2 days ago (14 children)

Simpsons did it

But for real, I am super interested in the concept of cultivated meat. I’m no vegan, but if less animals need to be mistreated and murdered for my steak, I’m not going to complain.

[–] voxthefox@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 2 days ago

I mean I think in this case Norse mythology beat the Simpsons to this at least a few centuries before with Heidrun

load more comments (13 replies)
[–] FosterMolasses@leminal.space 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Kinda... creepy. Just the way this article is presented, I mean.

It almost sounds like "Now we can finally eat Max the dog and know exactly what he tastes like without really eating him! Isn't that right Max?" lol

But if this is just a weird way of saying "we have synthetic pork now" then kudos I guess

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Give me celebrity human flesh. I want to know what steve Buschemi tastes of

[–] FreeAZ@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Give me Musk and Bezos so I know what to expect when the revolution comes.

[–] Apocalypteroid@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago

I expect they both taste like asshole

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago (2 children)

This is the best I’ve come up with: It’s Diet Meat. Just as Diet Coke is an approximation of the real thing, so too are cultivated meatballs.

I hope that wasn't meant to be a pitch for it. Diet Coke tastes like ass.

They simply taste a bit less meaty

See that's the disconnect - diet Coke doesn't taste like Coke that's less Coke-y, it tastes like Coke that had the sugar replaced with a scoop of Grandpa's ashes and a dash of betadine.

If we've made the meat equivalent to diet Coke, the best course of action is to just skip that nastiness and cook up some tofu or paneer or something.

If we've made the meat that's just a little less meaty, okay cool, I'll give it a shot.

...but those two are NOT the same thing.

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Kinda agree, I might try the bacon if it's not prohibitively expensive. But an ethical source of pork fat would be pretty nice for any culinary focused vegetarian. But I actually liked the impossible stuff I hear people talk a lot of shit about, so I'm obviously no super tasting expert.

[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Tasting expert can only tell you what they taste, not if it's any good because that is entirely up to the individual. Some (arguably quite a lot) people love diet coke, does that make OPs statement wrong? I'd say no because that individual doesn't like diet coke, but that doesn't speak for everyone.

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago

Never said they were wrong, but they are essentially saying if we don't get it perfect, then why try at all? That I disagree with. I'm with them on not liking diet Coke, but I like that it exists for whoever does like it.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Every Diet Coke drinker I've ever known has been a fat person who thinks they are addressing their weight problem by drinking Diet Coke, and doing literally nothing else.

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

In their defense, drinks are some of the worst offenders for excess calories, which is what drives weight gain.

Diet Coke isn't medicine or anything, but if you're drinking it when you would normally be drinking a normal Coke, then you just saved yourself a couple hundred calories.

Obviously not going to make up for a 3k calorie per day diet w/ no exercise, but it is a step in the right direction.

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 19 points 2 days ago (4 children)

If you can make ethical bacon, you can also make ethical long bacon

[–] knightly@pawb.social 13 points 2 days ago

I've been waiting for this for years. I can't wait to eat the first celebrity that donates some cells for a tie-in promo with Taco Bell. That shit is going to be so mid and our nightmare cyberpunk future is incomplete without it. XD

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 days ago

Possibly even more ethical since humans are capable of consenting

[–] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I would definitely donate some of my fat to taste myself

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Jeffrey Dahmer is interested

[–] remon@ani.social 6 points 2 days ago

Seems like half-assed lab grown meat. I'll wait till they figure out the real deal.

[–] zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 days ago (3 children)

One day they’ll breed an animal that makes it clear it wants to be eaten.

[–] OZFive@lemmy.world 33 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Ameglian_Major_Cow

the Cow was the Dish of the Day at Milliways, which arrived when Zaphod Beeblebrox (accompanied by Arthur, Ford, and Trillian) requested to 'meet the meat'. It was described as a large dairy animal, a "large fat meaty quadruped of the bovine type." It was said to have large watery eyes, as well as small horns and what might have been an ingratiating smile on its lips. The creature seems peaceful and at ease, and at one point is described to have "mooed."

The creature offers Zaphod and his party his shoulder, braised in a white wine sauce, then goes on to offer other parts of its body, having worked hard to fatten itself up through force-feeding itself for months. Eventually, after Arthur and Trillian have expressed their shock and Ford has expressed his disinterest, Zaphod requests four rare steaks and the Dish of the Day goes off to shoot himself, telling Arthur not to worry, as he says "I'll be very humane."[1]

[–] zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago

Indeed what I was referencing.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 2 points 2 days ago

So a show like that. Pig was basically wolverine and was prideful it was going to save humanity through its suffering. However, its meat was disgusting so no one wanted to eat turning the poor thing evil cursing humanity for rejecting his salvation.

One of the more emotional roller coasters experiences I seen for villian 🤣.

[–] Onyxonblack@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago

Beyond Lies the Wub

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

I'm just gonna stick to beans

[–] pageflight@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I can't tell from the article or Mission Barn's page whether they need a new sample for every batch, or just needed one sample to seed their bioreactors. I'm not sure (as someone who avoids meat for ethical and environmental reasons) if there's a big difference.

I'm actually happy with Beyond burgers/sausages when I do want meat taste, but nice to have more options. (Mozzarella and Parmesan are what I'd look for next, though Rebel Cheese is doing a good job with some more cheese-platter varieties.)

[–] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago

It may not be an every batch thing but you would need more samples at least eventually. Cells have division limits. While these are somewhat bypassed in these types of setups you do run into issues for longer term.

load more comments
view more: next ›