Metadata of the chapter that will be visualized online Chapter Title Fake Meat Copyright Year 2018 Copyright Holder Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature Corresponding Author Family Name Stephens Particle Given Name William Given Name O. Suffix Division/Department Department of Philosophy Organization/University Creighton University City Omaha State NE Country USA AU1 Email stoic@creighton.edu Email stphns@creighton.edu Keywords (separated by "-") Carnism Clean meat Cultured meat Fake meat Faux meat Imitation meat In vitro meat Lab-grown meat Meat alternative Meat substitute Mock meat Synthetic meat 1 F 2 Fake Meat 3 William O. Stephens 4 Department of Philosophy, Creighton University, 5 Omaha, NE, USAAU1 6 Keywords 7 Carnism; Clean meat; Cultured meat; Fake 8 meat; Faux meat; Imitation meat; In vitro 9 meat; Lab-grown meat; Meat alternative; 10 Meat substitute; Mock meat; Synthetic meat 11 Introduction 12 Fake meat, also known as faux meat, imitation 13 meat, mock meat, meat alternative, or meat sub14 stitute, is a food designed to approximate the 15 culinary qualities of flavor, texture, and appear16 ance of different types of meat. Many fake meats 17 are made from gluten (seitan) or soybeans (tofu 18 and tempeh). Fake meat is different from clean 19 meat. Clean meat, also known as cultured meat, 20 lab-grown meat, in vitro meat, or synthetic meat, 21 is muscle tissue grown in cell culture in a labora22 tory (Shapiro 2018). Clean meat is produced using 23 many of the same tissue engineering techniques 24 used in regenerative medicine. Carnal meat, in 25 contrast, is flesh taken from the corpse of an 26 animal. Fake meat is a meatless substitute for 27 both carnal meat and clean meat. 28Advantages of Fake Meat 29Reasons that commend fake meat over carnal 30meat can be grouped into six groups of consider31ations. These considerations appeal to (1) health 32benefits, (2) reducing environmental harms, 33(3) conserving agricultural resources and energy 34to feed more people, (4) rejecting the patriarchy 35implicated in meat, (5) moral consideration for 36nonhuman animals, and (6) religious or spiritual 37commitments. 38Health Benefits 39Vegetarian diets tend to be healthier than diets 40based on meat and animal fat. Meat-based diets 41are associated with higher rates of heart disease, 42atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, stroke, peptic 43ulcers, osteoporosis, kidney disease, colon cancer, 44lung cancer, breast cancer, uterine cancer, cervical 45cancer, and prostate cancer. People suffering from 46diabetes, angina, asthma, bladder disease, diver47ticulitis, gallbladder disease, hypertension, kidney 48stones, peptic ulcers, and rheumatoid arthritis 49have been shown to benefit from switching to 50vegetarian diets. Meat eaters risk serious and 51sometimes fatal food-borne illnesses (Stephens 521994). Thus, other dietary factors being equal, 53fake meat contributes to a healthier diet than 54carnal meat. 55Reducing Environmental Harms 56The global populations of chickens, cattle, pigs, 57and sheep continue to grow with the global human # Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018 P. B. Thompson, D. M. Kaplan (eds.), Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_635-1 58 population. In 2011 the world's average stock of 59 chickens was almost 19 billion; there were 1.4 60 billion cattle, about 1 billion sheep, and nearly 61 1 billion pigs (Economist 2011). Industrial live62 stock production is a leading source of organic 63 freshwater pollutants and nitrate groundwater pol64 lutants. Cattle are major causes of soil compac65 tion, erosion, and depletion of freshwater aquifers. 66 Cattle are a leading cause of deforestation, desert67 ification, habitat loss, and destruction of thou68 sands of species of plants, insects, birds, reptiles, 69 and mammals. Moreover, industrial livestock pro70 duction consumes great amounts of nonrenewable 71 energies (Stephens 1994). On one analysis, live72 stock and their by-products account for 51% of 73 annual worldwide greenhouse gas emissions 74 (Goodland and Anhang 2009). Consequently, 75 livestock contribute considerably to global cli76 mate change. Concentrated animal feeding opera77 tions (CAFOs) are where an increasing percentage 78 of the world's meat, milk, fish, and eggs are pro79 duced (Imhoff 2010). Therefore, the meat indus80 trial complex is responsible, both directly and 81 indirectly, for devastating, manifold, worldwide 82 environmental harms. Compared to industrial 83 meat, fake meat treads much more lightly on the 84 planet. 85 Conserving Resources and Feeding More 86 People 87 Breeding livestock and feeding them grain and 88 soy in order to make meat is an extremely wasteful 89 way of feeding people. Most of the calories and 90 protein in the grain and soy fed to livestock is lost 91 by cycling it through their bodies instead of con92 suming the grain and soy directly. Transforming 93 grain and soy into fake meat requires some addi94 tional inputs, depending on the kind of fake meat 95 product. Nonetheless, fake meat products are a 96 more efficient means of making foods from grain 97 and soy than are meat products. Citizens of afflu98 ent, developed nations consume far more meat per 99 capita than citizens of developing nations. So, one 100 can argue that those who lack enough to eat 101 deserve basic food more than the wealthy deserve 102 the unnecessary luxury of meat from CAFOs. 103 Justice suggests that agricultural resources be dis104 tributed equitably in order to reduce unnecessary 105human suffering and death caused by malnutrition 106(Stephens 1994). Thus, fairness favors fake meat. 107Meat and Patriarchy 108Another argument for meat substitutes is that there 109is an intimate connection between meat and male 110dominance. Meat is exalted in our patriarchal 111culture. The male prerogative for meat is 112exhibited in the Bible in Leviticus 6, in the ancient 113Greek myth of Zeus and Metis, and in fairy tales 114that portray meat eating as the male's role. In 115societies with animal-based economies, men 116hunt, control meat distribution, and wield social 117power typically to dominate women. In many 118nontechnological societies, women are forbidden 119to eat meat. Violence against animals intersects 120with sexual violence against women. Anthropo121logical, sociological, and historical studies illus122trate that the oppression of women and other 123animals is interdependent. Twentieth-century 124meat textbooks proclaim that meat is a virile 125food. Our society equates vegetarianism with 126emasculation or femininity (Adams 1990). Con127sequently, to reject meat in cultures where meat is 128plentiful signals rejection of male control and 129violence. Adams concludes that feminism and 130vegetarianism ought to be embraced by members 131of our "meat is king" patriarchal culture in order to 132transform it from within (Stephens 1994). How 133effective the choice of fake meat is in achieving 134this goal will be addressed below. 135Sparing Nonhuman Animals 136Moral consideration for the animals bred into 137existence, made to suffer, and killed to make 138meat is a popular reason for adopting vegetarian139ism. The most influential arguments motivated by 140moral consideration for the animals themselves 141have been formulated in either utilitarian or deon142tological theories. Utilitarians object to the tre143mendous suffering animals experience in 144CAFOs and argue that meat is unnecessary for 145virtually everyone nearly everywhere (Singer 1461990). Deontologists argue that animals are 147experiencing subjects of a life with inherent 148value, so we have a duty to treat them with 149respect, not as our resources. This duty includes 150boycotting all animal products, including meat 2 Fake Meat 151 (Regan 1983). The global meat industrial com152 plex grievously harms and destroys billions of 153 innocent animals every year. Therefore, replacing 154 murdered meat with a meatless substitute rights a 155 real wrong. 156 Religious or Spiritual Purity 157 Some religions prohibit or discourage eating 158 meat. Because of their commitment to the Dhar159 mic concept of ahimsa (non-violence), Jains 160 entirely abstain from meat, fish, and eggs. Vege161 tarianism is also common in Hinduism,Mahayana 162 Buddhism, Sikhism, and Taoism. Some Chris163 tians argue for vegetarianism based on the escha164 tological hope in the promises and the 165 providential work of God (Webb 2001). Others 166 see vegetarianism as a logical expression of one's 167 understanding of oneself as a Christian and one's 168 exercise of one's Christian faith and discipleship 169 (Largen 2009). The ancient Greek philosopher 170 Pythagoras taught metempsychosis – the belief 171 that the soul is immortal and transmigrates into 172 other kinds of animals. Their spiritual beliefs led 173 Pythagoreans to abstain from meat, fish, and 174 beans. The third-century polymath Porphyry of 175 Tyre, a follower of Plotinus, also believed in 176 metempsychosis. In On Abstinence from Animal 177 Food, Porphyry defends vegetarianism both for 178 the purpose of freeing one's soul from the body 179 and the sensible world and for ethical reasons. 180 Thus, for thousands of years, vegetarianism has 181 been adopted for the sake of spiritual purity. Fake 182 meat can promote this goal. 183 Fake Meat and Carnism 184 Fake meat products are intended to persuade meat 185 eaters to replace real meat with a meat substitute. 186 Fake meat is designed to cater to those who have 187 been conditioned to prefer meat. Companies that 188 produce fake meat presume that foods that resem189 ble meat are the norm for appetizing food. 190 Carnism is the ideology that conditions people to 191 eat certain animals (Joy 2010). Carnists regard 192 meat as normal, natural, and necessary. Conse193 quently, one could argue that purveyors of fake 194 meat actually capitulate to and perpetuate carnism 195under the guise of supplanting it. For example, if 196someone is not a racist but at a glance appears to 197act like a racist, then there is a risk that racism 198could be reinforced. Similarly, if someone is a 199vegan but at a glance appears to act like a carnist 200by eating what looks like meat but isn't, then this 201might subvert achieving the goal of veganism. 202Do fake meat products reinforce carnism? Pro203ponents of fake meat could deny this. They could 204argue that fake meat products give people the 205option of eating less carnal meat, or none at all. 206From this perspective fake meat could serve as a 207bridge to help meat eaters cross from carnism to 208vegetarianism. Once accustomed to eating a sub209stitute for meat in her diet, the consumer may no 210longer miss carnal meat. The person for whom 211fake meat becomes the new normal may come to 212find the appearance and smell of carnal meat dis213gusting. Such a consumer could then explore 214vegan foods that do not resemble carnal meat at 215all. Perhaps an analog is the use of e-cigarettes to 216quit smoking tobacco. Vaping can serve as a 217bridge from tobacco use to vaping an e-liquid 218that contains nicotine to vaping an e-liquid 219entirely free of nicotine. 220Ultimately, this argument for fake meat as a 221transition to vegetarianism or veganism is 222pragmatic. Most meat eaters are likely to be per223suaded only to try meatless foods that closely 224resemble meat in appearance, texture, flavor, and 225perhaps smell. Fake meat gives consumers the 226option for sources protein that is not as morally 227dubious as actual meat products. 228Summary 229Fake meat products are healthier to eat than carnal 230meat. Fake meat products inflict far less damage 231on the environment than meat from CAFOs. Eco232logically, fake meat requires fewer agricultural 233resources, less water, and less energy to produce 234than carnal meat. Using the same amount of agri235cultural inputs, fake meat feeds more people than 236carnal meat. Unlike carnal meat, fake meat harms 237no animals. Still, the advocate of veganism could 238object to making food that looks like it supports 239carnism. If fake meat is marketed with the slogan Fake Meat 3 240 that "it tastes like meat, but is better for you," then 241 a worry remains that, by taking meat as the norm, 242 fake meat capitulates to carnism. Defenders of 243 fake meat argue that such products help people 244 transition away from carnal meat. Perhaps in the 245 future, if fake meat aids in persuading enough 246 consumers to overcome carnism, vegans will be 247 content with foods that look like fruits, vegeta248 bles, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. 249 Cross-References 250 ▶Carnism 251 ▶ In Vitro Meat 252 ▶Meat: Ethical Considerations 253 ▶ Synthetic Meat 254 ▶Vegan Lifestyle 255 ▶Veganism 256 ▶Vegetarianism 257References 258Adams, C. J. (1990). The sexual politics of meat: A feminist259vegetarian critical theory. New York: Continuum. 260Goodland, R., & Anhang, J. (2009). Livestock and climate 261change. http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/Livestock 262and Climate Change.pdf. Accessed 28 Apr 2018. 263Imhoff, D. (2010). CAFO: The tragedy of industrial ani264mal factories. Healdsburg: Watershed Media. 265Joy, M. (2010).Why we love dogs, eat pigs, and wear cows: 266An introduction to carnism. San Francisco: Conari Press. 267Largen, K. J. (2009). A Christian rationale for vegetarian268ism. Dialog: A Journal of Theology, 48, 147–157. 269Regan, T. (1983). The case for animal rights. Berkeley: 270University of Caleifornia Press. 271Shapiro, P. (2018).Clean meat: How growing meat without 272animals will revolutionize dinner and the world. 273New York: Gallery Books. 274Singer, P. (1990). Animal liberation (Rev. ed.). New York: 275Avoeen Books. 276Stephens, W. O. (1994). Five arguments for vegetarianism. 277Philosophy in the Contemporary World, 1, 25–39. 278The Economist. (2011). Counting chickens–global livestock 279counts. https://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/ 2802011/07/global-livestock-counts. Accessed 28 Apr 2018. 281Webb, S. H. (2001). Good eating (2nd ed.). Ada: Brazos 282Press. 4 Fake Meat Author Queries Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics Chapter No.: 635-1 ___________________________________________________________________ Query Refs. Details Required Author's response AU1 Please be aware that your name and affiliation and if applicable those of you co-author(s) will be published as presented in this proof. If you want to make any changes, please correct the details now. Note that corrections after publication will no longer be possible. Note: If you are using material from other works please make sure that you have obtained the necessary permission from the copyright holders and that references to the original publications are included.