A shmeat by any other name
December 18th, 2008 | Posted by Tricina Elliker“We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.”
-Winston Churchill in his 1932 essay “Fifty Years Hence”
It may sound like a creepy science fiction book, but meat grown from stems cells in a lab is happening now and it’s a branding puzzle. The Netherlands have invested $5 million into the research and development of vat-meat and PETA just announced a $1 million prize for the individual or group who is “able to make the first in vitro chicken meat and sell it to the public by June 30, 2012.”
Personally, I love the idea of vat-grown meat. It requires no whole animal which means it takes care of the animal abuse and slaughter issue, solving the dilemma many people, including Michael Pollan, have wrestled with. This method could potentially free up land as animals require a lot of space (55 feet of rainforest per hamburger) and cause significant greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA is even exploring the possibility of a “cow tax” because of these emissions.
The benefits to the planet and an ease on our conscience aren’t all this meat has to offer, either. The samples taken to create the meat (it’s a tiny tissue sample) can be selected from the finest, healthiest animals and can be improved with additions of extra omega-3s and other nutrients. This meat could be the best of the best of the best.
But once it’s feasible, then the real work starts. How do you get people to eat it? Sure, a communications company could come up with all kinds of messaging around the health benefits and tiny carbon footprint of this meat, but that won’t change the “ick factor” many people will feel. In fact, people are already speaking up against the unnaturalness of lab-grown meat. And they’re right. It isn’t natural, but neither are eyeglasses or toilets, and no one wrinkles their nose at the idea of either of them.
But this has a huge disadvantage right out of the gate. The terms people have already assigned the stuff, like “shmeat” and “green meat,” are a branding nightmare. No one wants to eat something called “shmeat.” But if the right communications and branding companies got involved this stuff could really take off. So, how about it, PETA? How about a simultaneous contest? A million dollars to the communicator that can make lab-grown meat welcome in people’s diets. It’s a cash cow waiting to happen.