At what price point, relative to the cost of farmed meat, would you switch to an otherwise identical cultured alternative (i.e. this was grown from cell culture or some other mechanism that doesn’t involve raising an animal and killing it)?
(To be clear, >2x means “I’d pay at least $10 for cultured steak that would cost $5 if it came from a cow.”)
@pganssle I don't have an easy answer for that, because it always relates to quality of meat, it's skilled fabrication or butchery, portion, and the recipe. So, I believe that certain types of "meat" or protein culture could be equivalent, but the overall food science doesn't yet seem to be there for other things.
After all, as a professional, I'm often dismayed by even traditional cuts of beef, seafood, and poultry, because the skills have really dropped, aside from marketing, etc.
@pganssle in other words, I can walk into any grocer and find poorly fabricated meats and seafood that were "farm" raised, organic, free-range, etc. It doesn't mean anything really. If it's not properly raised, developed, fabricated, packed, and handled all the way down the food line, then it impacts the quality of your cooking or recipe. If someone improperly cuts several mignon steaks out of a filet of beef, you can't do much about it afterwards. And so on...
@djzap I’m asking if you assume that the resulting thing is identical, at what price point would you choose cultured meat over animal meat.
If you only care about quality then I’d say answer either 1x or >1x. I am inclined to say that if you are truly indifferent for a given quality level, the answer should be 1x.
@pganssle and I’m saying that “nothing” is identical. They’re merely approximate. Industrialization attempts “uniformity” or “standardization”, but I don’t think that of true “value” in quality foods, as much as it’s associated with economy and fast food.
If I gave you a bag of machine-cut carrots, do you really think it’s “identical” to organic whole carrots or baby carrots? Why would it be different for meat proteins?
@pganssle even if I purchased “printed” meat, or farm-raised, I wouldn’t assume it’s all the same, identical in value to similar products, or even that of “traditional” products. All food products are like this, no matter their nutritional source, regional origin, branding, etc.
@djzap I’m saying it’s a premise of the question. I’m asking people to hold quality constant.
If you want to imagine it as “the distribution of quality outcomes with the cultured meat are the same as the distribution of quality outcomes from a butcher” that is fine.
The point is to assume that on all relevant metrics the product is the same, except that one was cultured as the other came from a farm. Would you be willing to pay the same for it, less for it or more for it, and by how much?
@pganssle I studied sociology and anthropology, as well as Culinary Arts… so I think I’m more than capable of hypothetical thought and experimentation. I can also see through a bad or poorly implemented survey. Plus, I have a long history in social organizing, participatory engagement, writing, blogging, social media, etc. Then… that says nothing of my background and heritage in the overall food business.