"A meat-eater with a bicycle is much more environmentally unfriendly than a vegetarian with a Hummer."
--Dr Mark Post
The world's largest food concern, Unilever, has opened a new research lab at the world's most prestigious agricultural university, the University of Wageningen (the Netherlands). Unilever will locate all elements of its foods R&D there. A spokeswoman on Dutch radio stressed plant-based meat alternatives as an important research subject.
Wageningen University has strong credentials in that respect, with the development of shear cell technology.
Shear cell technology strings plant proteins together in tightly controlled fibers, resulting in a meat substitute where texture (fibrousness, bite, mouthfeel) can easily be controlled, and changed at will. This, combined with 3D food printing, offers the possibility of creating multiple meat (substitute) variations in future.
Unilever's food campus is open to startups, innovators and partners. One of the first to have build its own lab on the same grounds is Symrise, an industrial flavours and scents group.
About half of Dutch people call themselves 'flexitarians'. This means that they don't eat meat with their main meal at least three times a week. The proportion of vegetarians is stable, at just under five percent of the Dutch population.
Wageningen researchers believe, however, that feeding 9 billion people with animal meat will not be sustainable for the planet.
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday December 06 2019, @05:04PM
Plants sequester carbon. Animals free carbon. Vegetarian animals go further and eat those carbon-sequestering plants. Therefore, taking a vegetarian animal out of the environment gives you the biggest bang for your buck, carbon-wise. QED.
Pound and a half bacon cheeseburger for lunch, here I come!
(PSA: If you read that as anything besides me talking shit for the sake of some funny, you need to seriously reexamine the possibility that you're a fucking moron.)
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday December 06 2019, @07:57PM
Let's produce cultured meat, in a combination incubator/Weber Grill. At least it will be real meat.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Funny) by Hartree on Friday December 06 2019, @08:07PM (2 children)
For those of us who aren't on the salad and kale chip kick, how about meat based plants? This would open up many possibilities for my diet.
It might even make rice cakes palatable.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday December 07 2019, @12:17AM (1 child)
Rice cakes are so bad they make Styrofoam look palatable....
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday December 07 2019, @03:59AM
Wait, that's not where Styrofoam comes from??
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Snospar on Saturday December 07 2019, @12:13AM (1 child)
I'm just amazed that no one took the piss out of "flexitarians" for basically being the omnivores they have evolved to be. What do they want, a participation medal?
Does that make me a "flexaholic" or an "alchotarian"?
Huge thanks to all the Soylent volunteers without whom this community (and this post) would not be possible.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday December 07 2019, @12:39AM
It's marketing/analyst terminology. I don't think many people are identifying as "flexitarians", they are just being quantified by industry reports.
Oh yeaaah, found this after I wrote that:
https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/power-plant-based-food/317167 [adage.com]
The rare April 1 article that is not full of bull.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]