Fake Steak and Sham Ham
Back when I was studying psychology at the local community college and taking a few cultural anthropology classes one of the neat terms I came across in a textbook was "Cocacolonization". I've already went over some of the "Outward Bound" Isaac Arthur videos about colonizing space and there are still more left. If colonies of millions go to Mars or Mercury then some industries not related to mining or energy will also probably spread beyond Earth. Homemade soda is easily done so I'd assume Coca-Cola will have a factory on another planet even if it's just to be the first interplanetary soda.
What about hamburgers? I'll use McDonald's as an example since their food is standardized. If McDonald's could use additive manufacturing to layer fats and proteins creating a hamburger patty that tastes like one processed from a slaughterhouse than there could be a McDonald's anywhere a space colony is.
With hydroponics vegetables and grains can be grown. Tomatoes are a fruit so add that to vegetables and that takes care of most of a hamburger's mass and that can all be done off-planet with current technology easily.
The video gives a rule of thumb that there are 100 gigajoules of caloric energy for every hectare of farmland. Using those plants to feed livestock rather than colonists represents a loss of efficiency.
The video pointed out the possibility of creating more exotic forms of synthetic meat such as elephant or even dinosaur. As I heard that I found that a little disturbing. Not because of some moral philosophical reason that eating meat is bad even if it's synthetic and was never part of an animal that was slaughtered. Not because I believe it's wrong that a species is brought back from extinction to become cattle making the concept trivial. If we bring back dinosaurs and eat their meat doesn't that imply that long after humans become extinct some other species could independently have the same idea and bring humans back from extinction as a food source? Does that mean the Kromaggs from the Sliders series will be a real thing someday?
Sorry. That got in my brain and now it is in the meat inside your skull. I guess this is why the replicators in the Star Trek franchise can only create inanimate natter and not living organisms.
Here's a funny YouTube skit to help take your mind off the whole synthetic human meat possibility thing:
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I don't exactly like the idea of synthetic meat and I prefer to eat normal meat. The idea of how to solve the food issue when we are outside Earth will definitely be a problem we have to solve eventually.
I understand how you feel because I like a good cheeseburger or extra meat pizza. The one downside to "natural meat" is it's not as contaminant free as it should be. The law allows a certain amount of contamination because of the way meat is rendered, processed and transported commercially. Add to that the pollution from the environment that livestock can take into their bodies. If the meat is printed layer by layer from refined fats and proteins that's virtually as pure as food can be. It may not taste 100% authentic but I'll take approximation over precision if it means not having a stray rat hair or microscopic piece of insect in my food.
True. You won't know for sure if there are insects or rat hair in your food. The contamination is often difficult to solve since it happens naturally during the lifespan of an animal.