[ericdykstra]

Can we stop trying to replace every last natural source of calories with some combination of soy, corn, perfume, salt, sugar, and vegetable oil?

[ac29]

I'm not sure I would point to ground beef as a particularly "natural source of calories". At least not in the US, where cows are largely raised on.... corn and soy (and pharmaceuticals).

[elktea]

Corn and soy isn't good for cows either but the resulting meat is a far cry from eating it directly

[n0rbwah]

Maybe Famine's also at work in our own world?

> "CHOW contained spun, plaited, and woven protein molecules, capped and coded, carefully designed to be ignored by even the most ravenous digestive tract enzymes; no-cal sweeteners; mineral oils replacing vegetable oils; fibrous materials, colorings, and flavorings. The end result was a foodstuff almost indistinguishable from any other except for two things. Firstly, the price, which was slightly higher, and secondly, the nutritional content, which was roughly equivalent to that of a Sony Walkman."

Neil Gaiman - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

Although, these particular preparations might be closer to MEALS:

> "MEALS was CHOW with added sugar and fat. The theory was that if you ate enough MEALS you would a) get very fat, and b) die of malnutrition."

[tootie]

Why?

[DVassallo]

Because they're not natural foods.

And natural here does not mean not artificial. Natural food is the food we've been designed to eat.

[ericdykstra]

Humans are complicated creatures, and just replicating the macronutrients (and even micronutrients) into an ingestible substance is not a replacement for real food.

[gwbas1c]

Because processed food is bad for you, and "I can't believe it's not meat" is some of the most processed food on the market.

[elktea]

Agreed. The health results have been nothing short of a disaster and we're pressing further into unknown territory.

[pickledish]

You don't have to look it up if you don't want to, but you should know the health risks of eating factory-farmed meat (regarding antibiotic resistance, among other things) are almost assuredly worse.

[yitchelle]

On the other side of the coin, staying status quo and to keep using a diminishing resource is also not the right answer.