Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft discusses technological developments and limitations, multiple perspectives and what cultured meat as a future food source may entail.// Photo courtesy of FLY:D
Hofstra’s department of geology, environment and sustainability and the food studies program, concurrent with National Public Health Week, invited historian, writer and author of “Meat Planet,” Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft, to discuss the history of meat over the centuries, as well as share his knowledge, experiences and different perspectives from research on Thursday, April 5, via Zoom.
“What is meat?” Wurgaft asked the audience at the start of the discussion.
Volunteers from the audience replied with definitions varying from the parts of an animal that constitute as meat, as well as literary uses of the word “meat.” Wurgaft himself mentioned that the phrase “the meat of the matter” refers to the central idea of a situation.
“Our assumptions of what parts of an animal consist of meat change our perceptions,” Wurgaft said. Despite rising support for vegan diets, Wurgaft claimed that humans consume more meat per capita now than ever before.
Dr. Mark Post, a cardiologist and physiologist at Maastricht University, collaborated with technicians to create the first hamburger in 2013 “through the extensive and laborious technique known as tissue culture,” according to Wurgaft.
Cultured meat involves taking animal cells, growing them in vitro and designing the grown tissues to model the structures and properties of meat derived from animals without needing to sacrifice the animal, Wurgaft explained.
“Newspaper articles … may give you the impression that there is already a lab-grown chicken industry … but this is slightly misleading,” Wurgaft said.
After finishing his field work in 2019, Wurgaft noticed that scientists faced challenges in growing animal cells to mimic the properties of naturally occurring animal cells, as most meats consist of tissues of various shapes and arrangements. “[It is possible to grow sheets of cells,] but this is only really appropriate if you are going to take the cells and produce them into a slurry to be compressed,” Wurgaft said.
Wurgaft explained that food contamination can be reduced by producing meat in laboratories and presented philosophical perspectives on the topic of cultured meat from various authors, as well.
Richard Wrangham, author of “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human,” suggests we are a species designed to love meat, according to Wurgaft.
After reading Christine Korsgaard’s book, “Fellow Creatures: Our Obligations to Other Animals,” Wurgaft shared that the author believed animals have other types of worthiness and did not support the use of animals as resources.
Utilitarianism, another perspective existing on the topic of cultured meat considers actions as neither right or wrong in itself and judges based on the results of actions taken; they seek to minimize suffering and consider the welfare and interests of the majority at a universal scale, Wurgaft explained.
Wurgaft also introduced perspectives unsupportive of cultured meat production, saying that increased consumption of cultured meat may lead to losing sight of animal differences and human differences. He mentioned the downsides of cultured meat production, like moral ambiguity and ethical concerns.
Students expressed their thoughts and opinions on the development process of cultured meat and its possible future purposes, as well as whether they would be potential consumers.
Megan Wood, a junior marketing major, commented on cultured meat evaluation.
“It is important to look at the process and make sure it’s ethical or the best way to go about it,” Wood said.
Other students are put off by cultured meat due to what it’s comprised of.
“There are many additives added to meat,” said Caitlin Tracey, a freshman video/television and film major. “If labs found a way to avoid adding additives to the meat, then I would eat it, but that’s not the reality we live in.”
There are also proponents of cultured meat among Hofstra students.
“I would eat [cultured meat], and people would be interested in eating it as long as it is not costly,” said Samantha Mercaldo, a senior English major. “Meat is meat, it’s the same sort of genetics. Instead of directly being from a cow, it would just be a synthesized version of the same meat.”
Wurgaft said that while individuals seemed to hold negative views about cultured meat, perspectives started to alter from 2015 and onward as some factories have arisen for its production. He claimed people started to view cultured meat as “the food of the future rather than a weird science project.”
“The meaning of meat has changed and transformed dramatically over the centuries,” Wurgaft said. “Meat will apparently never be the same, and neither will we.”
