Lucy Mangan: test-tube burger? Yum, pass the ketchup

In vitro meat heralds the dawn of a new age (if we gloss over its culturing in antibiotics and something called foetal bovine serum)Dude, just tweeze those meat fibres out of whatever nutritional soup-filled Petri dishes I imagine they're currently swishing about in, press them together, grill under a medium heat and pop them in a bap for me. Cultured beefburgers, like the one recently grown by Dr Mark Post in his lab and taste-tested at a special event in London earlier this week, you are what I have been waiting for all my life.And pass the ketchup.Actually, it's not been my whole life. When I was young, vegetarianism was still a cult activity practised by filthy, bendy-boned hippies or mawkishly sentimental teenage girls who would probably be keen to renege on the whole non-meat-eating deal if only they had the strength to lift a whole steak into a pan.I'm still not vegetarian, but the older I get, the less defensible this state becomes – and not just because it's an implied term in my Guardian contract that I must abjure not only at least seven-eighths of any joy that comes my way in life but also any meat that isn't certified organic Norfolk roadkill or the cow in Douglas Adams' restaurant at the end of the universe. Eating meat is unhealthy and grossly inefficient (you need up to 100 times more water to produce a pound of beef than you do a pound of wheat. A cow is essentially a giant sponge. Although if it were a sponge, it would be very eco-frien...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: The Guardian Farming Tissue engineering Biology Medical research Food & drink The meat industry Features Stem cells Life and style Environment Science Source Type: news