Soule: Lab-Grown Meat? I’d Rather Eat My Shoe

Twenty years ago, I was a vegetarian. Now I eat meat, but not just any meat; knowing how the animal was raised is essential to me.

For those still-vegetarians, there is a huge commercial push to create “fake meat.” Recently United States regulators approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer lab-grown meat to restaurants and supermarkets. Lab-grown or fake meat companies often market themselves as Earth-friendly, but are they?

Their meat is created from live stem cells taken from the muscle and skin of live animals. The cells are then cultivated under lights and dosed with antibiotics to keep them bacteria-free. Meat grown this way consumes enormous energy and might not be anything you’d want to eat. (I have to admit, I’ve never tasted it.)

Well-known nutritionist and food author Diana Rodgers says, “I’d rather eat my shoe than lab-grown meat.” She argues that the best meat comes from farms where animals are allowed to graze and be raised outside the industrial food system. I agree with her, and my farm shoes are incredibly unappetizing.

Diana and I are not alone.

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Carole is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm in Loudon, N.H., where she raises beef and shares the joys of her Farm with kids and adults. She can be reached at carole@soulecoaching.com.