Will be mostly vegetarien in the future?

[whm1974]

OK I was reading this two articles and now I'm wondering if people, especially those in the West will forced to cut way down on meat consumption.
https://www.tngun.com/get-calories-per-foot-homestead-garden/
https://slate.com/technology/2012/0...feed-the-world-if-we-run-out-of-farmland.html
I just hope Humanity isn't reduced to eating dog, cats, and rats.

Is this way overblown, or is there some truth to this?

 

[Thebobo]

Artificial meat or grown meats will be the future. From what little I have eaten I could handle it if they were cost effective and easy to get.

 

[whm1974]

Artificial meat or grown meats will be the future. From what little I have eaten I could handle it if were cost effective and easy to get.

I think it will be a long while before that will happen. From what I understand Rabbit is one of the most efficient animals to raise for meat.

 

[cfenton]

I'm not sure about being forced to do it. We continue to do things we probably shouldn't all the time because it's convenient. However, if you're thinking of some time in the future where available land is the limiting factor for food production, then crops are significantly more efficient so there would be economic pressure to make better use of the land. I think it's much more likely that meat would become a luxury product that only relatively rich people, like most of the west, could eat.

I think the concern about eating rats is a bit silly. If someone offered you an ear of corn or a rat, which would you eat?

 

[whm1974]

I'm not sure about being forced to do it. We continue to do things we probably shouldn't all the time because it's convenient. However, if you're thinking of some time in the future where available land is the limiting factor for food production, then crops are significantly more efficient so there would be economic pressure to make better use of the land. I think it's much more likely that meat would become a luxury product that only relatively rich people, like most of the west, could eat.

I think the concern about eating rats is a bit silly. If someone offered you an ear of corn or a rat, which would you eat?

The ear of corn of course... But I'm also from a country where rat isn't on the menu.

 

[realibrad]

I'm not sure about being forced to do it. We continue to do things we probably shouldn't all the time because it's convenient. However, if you're thinking of some time in the future where available land is the limiting factor for food production, then crops are significantly more efficient so there would be economic pressure to make better use of the land. I think it's much more likely that meat would become a luxury product that only relatively rich people, like most of the west, could eat.

I think the concern about eating rats is a bit silly. If someone offered you an ear of corn or a rat, which would you eat?

Land is not and will likely not be the issue. Meat production uses a lot of resources. You are right that meat would likely become far more of a luxury product as the costs for meat go up due to resource constraints.

 

[KMFJD]

Wouldn't be a bad thing

 

[sdifox]

Issue is really artificially low meat price so you get large volume producers so they can make money.

 

[cytg111]

If they make it tasty and it has the right acids proteins etc... I dont care what it is Ill eat it.

 

[cfenton]

The ear of corn of course... But I'm also from a country where rat isn't on the menu.

Right, me too, but what I was trying to say is that it's much cheaper to produce vegetables and other plants than it is to raise animals (presumably even rats). It is far more efficient to eat plants than it is to eat meat. Unless we're talking about the very poorest countries on earth, most people won't even be forced to eat rats. If it's just the case that beef and pork become very expensive, I'd much rather switch to tofu than rat.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

If they make it tasty and it has the right acids proteins etc... I dont care what it is Ill eat it.

They can't even make it tasty now. The average meat you buy anywhere is flavorless and gross. I cut way back and just occasionally splurge on top shelf meats now because everything else just isn't worth it. I don't see the rest of the country weaning off the burger and chicken breast diet though.

 

[whm1974]

They can't even make it tasty now. The average meat you buy anywhere is flavorless and gross. I cut way back and just occasionally splurge on top shelf meats now because everything else just isn't worth it. I don't see the rest of the country weaning off the burger and chicken breast diet though.

Rabbit farming is starting to become a thing now in some areas. I wonder if we will start rabbit burgers sometime in the future?

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I'm all for it, rabbit is pretty good. More flavorful than chicken. What really surprised me was how much more efficient pork is than beef. Regardless, whatever you use if it's factory farmed is going to taste like shit. People need to realign their perspective to quality over quantity which would go a long way to reducing consumption, but that's a tall order with such an industrialized food chain.

 

[whm1974]

I'm all for it, rabbit is pretty good. More flavorful than chicken. What really surprised me was how much more efficient pork is than beef. Regardless, whatever you use if it's factory farmed is going to taste like shit. People need to realign their perspective to quality over quantity which would go a long way to reducing consumption, but that's a tall order with such an industrialized food chain.

I never had rabbit, but I read that they are easy to raise and provide more protein per inputs then cattle and chickens do.

I wonder what it would take to get us Americans to reduce our meat consumption? I'm starting to cut down mine for health and cut expenses.

 

[whm1974]

So those of you who have experience with farming or gardens which crops you think that are most calorie dense, easy to grow, and can be store for awhile without much trouble?

 

[sdifox]

So those of you who have experience with farming or gardens which crops you think that are most calorie dense, easy to grow, and can be store for awhile without much trouble?

potatoes

 

[whm1974]

potatoes

Any others?

 

[whm1974]

What you guys think of the Three Sisters method the North American Indians used:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(agriculture)
https://www.thespruceeats.com/three-sisters-of-native-american-cuisine-101567

Off hand what other food crops grow well together?

 

[Moonbeam]

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151207-the-countries-where-rats-are-on-the-menu

Recent scientific ideas suggest that huge herds of grazing animals are the answer to desertification. If so we will probably need to eat a lot of meat.

 

[whm1974]

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151207-the-countries-where-rats-are-on-the-menu

Recent scientific ideas suggest that huge herds of grazing animals are the answer to desertification. If so we will probably need to eat a lot of meat.

I'm not sure about huge herds as the animals need to move every so often to prevent overgrazing. So there is a limit to how how large the herd can be.

 

[whm1974]

To be more accurate, this sort of diet would be Flexitarian where we will still consume some animal products, but nowhere as much as we do now.

 

[Stokely]

Probably should be, if we care about our own health and that of the ecosystem (considering the damage beef cattle do in terms of methane/carbon in these climate-impacted times). I say this as a person who has to choke down veggies so I'm not exactly thrilled by the prospect.

Not to mention, like most people I deliberately don't read stories on what it is like in, say, a poultry "farm". Also like most people, I have pets and wouldn't want to see them suffer, and the conditions that food animals live in for their ENTIRE LIVES is something out of a nightmare.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

There's always Soylent Green.

We're omnivores so being a strict anything probably isn't a good thing, but there are more intelligent and humane ways to raise livestock.

 

[whm1974]

Probably should be, if we care about our own health and that of the ecosystem (considering the damage beef cattle do in terms of methane/carbon in these climate-impacted times). I say this as a person who has to choke down veggies so I'm not exactly thrilled by the prospect.

Not to mention, like most people I deliberately don't read stories on what it is like in, say, a poultry "farm". Also like most people, I have pets and wouldn't want to see them suffer, and the conditions that food animals live in for their ENTIRE LIVES is something out of a nightmare.

Agreed, and the fact that most antibiotics are used on livestock.

 

[whm1974]

There's always Soylent Green.

We're omnivores so being a strict anything probably isn't a good thing, but there are more intelligent and humane ways to raise livestock.

Of course this does vary among groups, but don't even hunter-gathers at the most only consume about 30% of their diets in animal products? An they just about eat the entire animal.