History Main / ArtificialMeat

-->-- ''' Jobe Anne Wilkins''' to '''Headmistress Carson''', ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', [[http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/original-timeline/357-saks-and-violence "Saks and Violence"]]

* The Impossible Burger is a plant-based meat substitute that tries to replicate the look and texture of ground beef as close as possible. The key, according to its makers, is in the use of heme, which gives the product a "juiciness" that is lacking in other meat substitutes.

* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': The murder victim in "How the Sausage Is Made" is a scientist who had developed an artificial meat that would be able to pass as the real thing. The scientist's employers, realizing that their product being approved as genuine meat would have shut them out of the [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} kosher]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} halal]] markets for non-meat substitutes, tried to force him to edit the FDA submission so it wouldn't be approved. When the scientist refused, he was murdered, and the submission was edited anyway.

** In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Klingon Commander Kern frowns on the Federation practice of eating artificial meat when he comes onboard the ''Enterprise''.

Even with all the advances and regulations, the current meat industry is not without its problems. It takes a surprising amount of resources, and some companies cut corners to save on expenses. There are also the ethics issues brought up by animal rights groups. However, meat is so delicious, important, and full of protein that it's hard to give up.

* In ''Literature/TerraIgnota'', all meat comes from meatmakers, a standard kitchen appliance that can seemingly grow any kind of meat to any dimension you want in a timely manner. Since it didn’t come from a living animal, it’s fine for Buddhists and other ethical vegetarians to eat, but the whole notion of eating once-living flesh is considered one step removed from cannibalism anyways. [[spoiler:It also has medical applications: after being horribly burned by an explosion, one character [[CloningBodyParts has his skin replaced with grafts grown in a meatmaker]], cloned from his lover's own skin, incidentally meaning that any skin traces he leaves behind are genetically identical to his donor.]]

* The Beef Vat improvement in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}: Call to Power'' is a future age improvement that prevents starvation.

* An offhand comment by [[AcePilot Joker]] in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' suggests that most or all meat aboard human military ships in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' is vat-grown.
* Partial example in ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'': genetically engineered pigs called "cystypigs" grow bacon-esque tumors that can be safely removed without harming the pig (a loading screen image shows a woman easily ''peeling off a tumor'' from the pig's back). The pigs are completely unharmed and continue growing tumors their entire lives. Exactly how "artificial" this is depends on your definition; the meat is technically harvested from a living creature, but it certainly isn't ''natural''.
* You can make these in ''VideoGame/{{Planetbase}}'', which you should in order to increase your colonists' diet diversity.
* According to WordOfGod, the majority of the meat consumed by humans in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' world is synthetic, since real-world animals were [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness essentially retconned out]] and eating the series' {{mon}}s carries [[FridgeHorror unfortunate implications]].[[note]]Certain species have been noted to be delicacies in the past, but it's implied that this is no longer the case.[[/note]]

* The 'real meat' factory from ''VideoGame/ProjectEden''.

* ''Webcomic/TwentyFirstCenturyFox'' has [[http://techfox.comicgenesis.com/d/20030613.html Scientifically Produced Animal Matter]] (SPAM), introduced after SapientEatSapient [[CarnivoreConfusion carnivorism]] is deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. As this is a universe in which all animals are sentient, [[CarnivoreConfusion carnivores ate other people]] before its introduction. Despite being grown in vats from tumors, SPAM turns out to taste ''better'' than "real" meat, so most continue to eat it even after the ban is repealed.

-->-- ''' Jobe Anne Wilkins''' to '''Headmistress Carson''', ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', "[[http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/original-timeline/357-saks-and-violence Saks and Violence]]"

Even with all the advances and regulations, the current meat industry is not without its problems. It takes a surprising amount of resources, and some companies cut corners to save on expenses. There's also the ethics issues brought up by animal rights groups. However, meat is so delicious, important, and full of protein that it's hard to give up.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_meat We actually have some ideas right now]]. Basically we take some species' cell culture and grow it into something edible. Since you don't need to raise animals, there's no question of inhumane treatment because what you've eaten never had a brain, hence why meat produced in this procedure is also known as "slaughter-free meat". This process is also quicker and more efficient than traditional husbandry, since large quantities of meat could be grown more or less continuously within limited facilities instead of having to reserve large areas of pasture land for slow-growing livestock that can only be bred or harvested once per year. It likely isn't nearly as ecologically impacting given that the meat has far fewer bodily functions to maintain, also reducing the resource cost.

'''Note:''' Since all that's required is a genetic sample, it is not beyond reason to suggest that you might one day be able to eat cultivated meat of extinct species. Ever wanted to taste a mammoth? Or a dinosaur? [[FridgeHorror When you stop to think about it]], one of the more {{Squick}}y implications of this is that you can get [[ArtificialCannibalism humanely cultivated flesh]] [[SapientEatSapient of sapient beings]] -- or ''yourself''!

Subtrope of FutureFoodIsArtificial. Might be part of the cuisine of a {{Veganopia}}.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

* ''Manga/{{Fourteen}}'' also starts from this. This being a SurrealHorror, one of the artificial chickens eventually gains sentience... and names itself George... and [[FeatheredFiend kills people]].

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' is set in the goodness-knows-what-year-it-is (literally) future, where you can eat any kind of animal (including humans) because of this. Spider at one point visits a "bastard farm", which is a factory that clones anencephalic humans for fast food ingredient.

* One Franchise/MickeyMouse story revolves around a secret formula for steaks that grow like mushrooms.

[[folder:Fanfic]]

[[folder: Film]]
* The Federation in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' use {{Matter Replicator}}s for most of their meat.
%%* ''Film/SoylentGreen''

* Taken to its nightmarish extent in ''Film/{{Antiviral}}'', where celebrity-obsessed culture has created demand for artificial steaks [[HumanResources grown from the flesh]] of the Hollywood elite's cells.

[[folder: Literature]]
* ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'' by Creator/WilliamGibson had some kind of vat-grown fake meat based on krill. In a posh restaurant, the protagonist Case is chastised by his companion Molly for wasting a steak, which is expensive because "they have to raise an animal for years and then kill it."
* ''The Space Merchants'' by Creator/FrederikPohl and C.M. Kornbluth has tumour meat cultures called "Chicken Little".

* Creator/LarryNiven's [[Literature/TheDracoTavern Draco Tavern]] story "Assimilating Our Culture, That's What They're Doing!" not only features meat cultures grown from humans, but the aliens growing the human meat paid lavish royalties to the human cell donors -- who were ''still'' upset about it.
* ''Literature/TufVoyaging'' by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin: One of Haviland Tuf's suggestions for dealing with [[MeaningfulName Suthlam]]'s overpopulation is to stop raising traditional livestock to feed the people and switch over to a genetically engineered organism called a meatbeast, which is metaphorically described as a [[{{Squick}} giant edible cancer]]. Since the thing is immobile and almost entirely edible, it's a much more efficient source of food than any naturally evolved animal with bones and sensory organs and whatnot. When asked how they taste, Tuf admits he hasn't tried them personally, but he imagines they would taste "very good to any starving man".
* The Literature/VorkosiganSaga has Vat Protein, grown meat flavored to taste like chicken, beef, etc. Primarily used by many advanced societies without mention, while some cultures prefer meat the old-fashioned way. (And for members of the former who get squicked by the latter, well, the best example is Cordelia, who grew up on Beta Colony, the most advanced planet in the Nexus, bravely chomping down on her son Miles's freshly caught and cooked catch of fish, when he was a young boy on Barrayar.)
** Although she didn't have any objections to field-butchered wild game in the first book (This may have been a side effect of being forced to live on oatmeal and salad dressing for several days).
* The heroine of Creator/JohnVarley's ''Literature/TheOphiuchiHotline'' gets wealthy from developing a "bananameat" tree. Ostensibly the grafting of pork genes onto banana trees, the popularity of the meat's flavor is the result of including human DNA (the inventor's own).
* ''Literature/ConSentiency''.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's novel Literature/RobotsAndEmpire includes a meal of simulated roast pork smothered in peanut sauce. The characters think it quite good.
* In ''Literature/OryxAndCrake'', soy-based meat substitutes are common, as are "[=ChickieKnobs=]", derived from heavily genetically engineered chickens which are entirely lacking in nervous systems (so they feel no pain).
* All meat in Literature/TheCulture is created in this fashion.
* "Food of the Gods" by Creator/ArthurCClarke has a food company executive [[HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee testifying to Congress]] about the practices of one of his competitors. Artificial meat has been in use for so long that most of the committee members have to be told that it is based on the flesh of animals. Then he starts to tell them about the new, very popular, product from his competitor. He starts out by spelling out a new word for the congresspeople: [[ImAHumanitarian C.A.N.N.I.B.A.L.]]
* In ''Literature/Feed2002'', during part 3 Titus and Violet visit a Filet Mignon farm. The meat is grown in the same way as plants are, complete with a maze made out of beef. There is also mention of mutations in the growing process, creating things like hearts, eyes, and horns in the meat.

* ''Subspace Explorers'', by Creator/EEDocSmith, mentions how almost all meat on Earth was replaced by synthetics, until other planets started being turned into massive farms, allowing real meat and milk to become widely available again. (Synthesising everything and using up all available land space, including remineralising even deserts like the Sahara, was an important part of straining the Earth's resources far enough to support a population of...[[HilariousInHindsight seven billion]].)

* In the ''Literature/TerraIgnota '' books, all meat comes from meatmakers, a standard kitchen appliance that can seemingly grow any kind of meat to any dimension you want in a timely manner. Since it didn’t come from a living animal, it’s fine for Buddhists and other ethical vegetarians to eat, but the whole notion of eating once-living flesh is considered one step removed from cannibalism anyways. [[spoiler:It also has medical applications: after being horribly burned by an explosion, one character got his skin replaced with grafts grown in a meatmaker, cloned from his lover’s own skin, incidentally meaning any skin traces he leaves behind are genetically identical to his donor.]]
* In the short story ''Alone With Gandhari'' by Gord Sellar, there's a genetically engineered 'cow' that's only a headless torso fed by tubes.
* ''Literature/SexRobotsAndVeganMeat:'' The "vegan meat" of the title is cell cultures grown in vats, and is an intensely artificial product likely to be manufactured by {{Mega Corp}}s. Any peasant can have real meat by raising a pig in their back yard, or people who don't want death for dinner could just, you know, ''eat plants''.

[[folder: Live-Action Television]]
* In ''Series/BetterOffTed'' Veridian Dynamics has successfully produced artificial meat. [[FlawedPrototype Unfortunately]] it [[TastesLikePurple tastes like "despair"]] so there's still some progress needed. By the end of the episode, they've succeeded, and everyone is pleased with the results. Unfortunately, it costs $10,000 a pound, so no one's going to be using it until they can bring the cost way down.
* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': A murder victim in "How the Sausage Is Made" was a scientist who had developed an artifical meat that would be able to pass as the real thing. The scientist's employers, realising that their product being approved as genuine meat would have shut them out of the [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} kosher]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} halal]] markets for non-meat substitutes, tried to force him to edit the FDA submission so it wouldn't be approved. When the scientist refused he was murdered and the submission edited anyway.
* In ''Series/{{Eureka}}'', one episode had a scientist who cloned chicken meat to stop the slaughter of the real thing. The problem of the week ensues when the chicken induces rampant stupidity (due to the chemicals the scientist flooded the meat with to make it grow absent a whole chicken) while there's a potentially cataclysmic experiment running that everyone in town is now too dumb to properly monitor.
* In ''Series/TheExpanse'' vat-grown meat is consumed, although even the most premium vat-grown meat isn't quite as good as the real thing.

* In ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'', meat (and most fruit) are genetically grown because "cow farts were messing up the ozone layer." When the LT Krieg brings out a block of actual ground beef he had hidden, whiz-kid Lucas comments it's "dead cow." Krieg comments that "you haven't lived until you've had it, roasted over an open fire." The same episode shows a number of staff officers eating a roast beef lunch, and the tone of the scene suggests it's the customary way to grease the wheels of negotiation in the upper echelons of society.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. In "Charlie X", Captain Kirk is shown telling the galley staff that if they're going to serve synthetic meatloaf on Thanksgiving, they should at least make it look like turkey. The title character then uses his PsychicPowers to put real turkeys in the ship's oven.
* Klingon Commander Kern frowns on the Federation practice of eating artificial meats when he comes onboard the ''Enterprise'' on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': During the time of Enterprise, replicators have yet to be created. Instead they use "protein resequencers" which are implied to be a really high-tech 3D printer (an evolution of current real-life methods of producing artificial meat).

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'' has this as the norm. Normal butchered meat is illegal in many places and seen as disgusting and horribly barbaric in most others.
* For a given value of artificial, ''After The Bomb'' has a genetically engineered Meat Potato that cooks up like a beef roast, and is edible by carnivores.

[[folder: Urban Legends]]
* Some {{urban legend}}s claim that certain fast food companies really source their meat from "Animal 57", genetically engineered blobs of flesh growing in tanks.
* When UsefulNotes/KentuckyFriedChicken began to promote itself as "KFC", rumors soon circulated that "the government" was making them do this because supposedly its "meat" was too far removed from real chicken. In reality, the word they were trying to distance themselves from was ''Fried'', and the growing negative connotations around the word, not to mention the fact that they ''do'' (or did) sell grilled chicken as well.
** Amusingly, KFC is working on [[https://mashable.com/article/kfc-3d-printed-chicken-nuggets/ meatless 3D-printed chicken nuggets]], meaning this urban legend about them not using real chicken has gone full circle.

[[folder: Video Games]]
* The 'real meat' factory from ''VideoGame/ProjectEden''.
* The Beef Vat improvement in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}: Call to Power''. A future age improvement that prevents starvation.

* ''VideoGame/FrontierEliteII'' included artificial meat as one of its trade units. The manual describes this product and how it's grown in giant vats in all its revolting glory.
* You can make these in ''Videogame/{{Planetbase}}'', which you should in order to increase your colonists' diet diversity.
* According to WordOfGod, the majority of the meat consumed by humans in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' world is synthetic, since real-world animals were [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness essentially retconned out]] and eating the series' {{mons}} carries [[FridgeHorror unfortunate implications]].[[note]]Certain species have been noted to be delicacies in the past, but it's implied that this is no longer the case.[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/Prey2017'' had several interesting examples. SpaceStation Talos 1 has no shortage of plants, thanks to a large arboretum, so they can grow all the crops they want. However, meat is much harder to obtain. There are several options: genetically engineered Siskak eels are used to clean out the recycling tanks and can be processed and eaten (often as fish sticks), the restaurant's robot chef mentions something called "Pacific Beef," "peeled fresh from its plastic lattices," and there are genetically-engineered tomatoes that taste like Iberian cured ham.
* Partial example in ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'': genetically-engineered pigs called "cystypigs" grow bacon-esque tumors that can be safely removed without harming the pig (a loading screen image shows a woman easily ''peeling off a tumor'' from the pig's back). The pigs are completely unharmed and continue growing tumors their entire lives. Exactly how "artificial" this is depends on your definition; the meat is technically harvested from a living creature, but it certainly isn't ''natural''.

[[folder: Web Comics]]
* The world of ''Webcomic/{{Jack|DavidHopkins}}'' has "synth meat". Unfortunately, it doesn't satisfy the Gluttonies, who took up fetishistic cannibalism in life and are now condemned to spend eternity [[IronicHell eating the other denizens of Hell and never feeling full]]. Another element of the punishment is that the denizens of hell taste like sulfur.
* ''Webcomic/TwentyFirstCenturyFox'' has [[http://techfox.comicgenesis.com/d/20030613.html Scientifically Produced Animal Matter]] (SPAM). As it's one of the furry universes where all animals are sentient carnivores ate other people before its introduction, a few months after SPAM was introduced predation was banned, for one arc.

[[folder: Web Original]]
* [[{{Squick}} Tumor beef]], another amazing invention of Jobe Wilkins in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse. So what if it is carcinogenic, hard to eat, and of little nutritional value? The United Nations sanctioned Jobe (yet again) for this. Not his home country of Karedonia, not the country he sold the cows to, but ''Jobe himself''.

* ''Literature/{{Starsnatcher}}:'' TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, artificial meat is widespread. You can even buy lab-mproduced urgers at [[BurgerFool Burger Bob]]! [[TheHero Lucas]] eats one in the first chapter and he can tell it's artificial because the color isn't as crisp as in "real" meat.

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* There was an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFrogShow'' where Chef Maurice built a cloning machine and tried to clone the eponymous frog so he could have more frog meat to feed his customers.

[[folder: Real Life]]
* In an episode of [[Series/FutureFood Future]] [[http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/future-food/ Food]], Chefs Omar Cantu and Ben Roche play around with making artificial meat out of the food that we feed animals to make them tasty. Grain and beets and soy and other ingredients are made into artificial beef and chicken.

* TruthInTelevision: While we haven't come up with anything that can be used on an industrial scale, we have a number of ideas. Check out Website/TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_meat here]] for more details.
** [[http://arikrice.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/tastes-of-chicken/ This blog]] even goes one step further, proposing that, since one could presumably grow meat from any animal or person, you could potentially have a steak grown ''out of your own DNA''... which really brings a whole new dimension to the phrase "[[ITasteDelicious Eat me!]]"

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'' has this as the norm. Normal butchered meat is illegal and seen as disgusting and horribly barbaric.

* The manga ''Manga/{{BioMeat|Nectar}}'' is about this, except [[RussianReversal in this story, meat eats you]].
* Another horror manga, ''Manga/{{Fourteen}}'', also starts from this. This being a SurrealHorror, one of the artificial chickens eventually gains sentience. And names itself George. And [[GaiasVengeance kills people]].

* TruthInTelevision: While we haven't come up with anything that can be used on an industrial scale, we have a number of ideas. Check out Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_meat here]] for more details.

* According to WordOfGod, the majority of the meat consumed by humans in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' world is synthetic, since real-world animals were [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness essentially retconned out]] and eating the series' {{mons}} carries [[FridgeHorror unfortunate implications]].

* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': A murder victim in "How the Sausage Is Made" was a scientist who had developed an artifical meat that would be able to pass as the real thing. The scientist's employers realised that their product being approved as genuine meat would have shut them out of the [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} kosher]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} halal]] markets for non-meat substitutes and tried to force him to edit the FDA submission so it wouldn't be approved. When the scientist refused he was murdered and the submission edited anyway.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_meat We actually have some ideas right now]]. Basically we take some species' cell culture and grow it into something edible. Since you don't need to raise animals, there's no question of inhumane treatment because what you've eaten never had a brain, hence why meat produced in this procedure is also known as "slaughter-free meat". It likely isn't nearly as ecologically impacting given that the meat has far fewer bodily functions to maintain, also reducing the resource cost.

->''“I sold the ‘Ultimate Leader and Champion of the People for Life’ a strain of COWS that could feed on what they laughingly refer to as grass in that part of Hell’s back porch! So that he could feed his PEOPLE! They were on the brink of starvation! I should be getting a humanitarian award, not sanctions!”''\\
''“Jobe, the beef was cancerous! It grew in huge malformed TUMORS that they cut off and sold to their people as beef!”''\\
''“Of COURSE! I designed it that way! How else could those cows produce that much meat in time to prevent mass die-offs from starvation?”''\\
''“Jobe, you had those people eating cancers!”''\\
''“So, it tasted a little off...”''\\
''“JOBE, it was CARCINOGENIC!”''

* In ''Literature/{{Feed}}'', during part 3 Titus and Violet visit a Filet Mignon farm. The meat is grown in the same way as plants are, complete with a maze made out of beef. There is also mention of mutations in the growing process, creating things like hearts, eyes, and horns in the meat.

* [[{{Squick}} Tumor beef]], another amazing invention of Jobe Wilkins in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse. So what if it is carcinogenic, hard to eat, and of little nutritional value? The United Nations sanctioned Jobe (yet again) for this. Not his home country of Karedonia, not the country he sold the cows to, but ''Jobe himself'' (oops, I mean ''[[GenderBender her]]''[[GenderBender self]]).

-->-- ''' [[RoyalBrat Jobe]] [[GenderBender Anne]] [[EmperorScientist Wilkins]]''' to '''[[BigGood Headmistress Carson]]''', ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', "[[http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/original-timeline/357-saks-and-violence Saks and Violence]]"

'''Note:''' Since all that's required is a genetic sample, it is not beyond reason to suggest that you might one day be able to eat cultivated meat of extinct species. Ever wanted to taste a mammoth? Or a dinosaur? [[FridgeHorror When you stop to think about it]], one of the more {{Squick}}y implications of this is that you can get humanely cultivated flesh [[SapientEatSapient of sapient beings]] - or ''yourself''!

* "Food of the Gods" by Creator/ArthurCClarke has a food company executive testifying to congress about the practices of one of his competitors. Artificial meat has been in use for so long that most of the committee members have to be told that it is based on the flesh of animals. Then he starts to tell them about the new, very popular, product from his competitor. He starts out by spelling out a new word for the congresspeople: C.A.N.N.I.B.A.L.