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Quorn™ Synthetic food

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Quorn™ Synthetic food

Unread postby JohnDenver » Wed 06 Apr 2005, 21:57:49

This is a radical development which could greatly affect carrying capacity. Quornâ„¢ is mycoprotein -- a meat-like food produced by fungi from wastes. In short, it is food grown in vats. It is vastly more efficient as a protein source than the chicken or cow. Its production requires far less water and land than conventional protein, and it produces less waste. Furthermore, it is a viable commercial product, right now.

QUORN™

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')or about an hour on Thursday, the office went a bit Quorn crazy, with 10 or so people popping into the coffee bar to taste this advanced food. The feedback was mostly positive. Everyone liked it, and some people said they loved it. Several said that the nuggets were indistinguishable from chicken, and others said that while they could taste a difference, they thought Quorn was very similar to meat.

LINK

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')any attempts have been made to manufacture foods that are rich in protein as cheaper alternatives to meat. Microorganisms can be made to grow on some industrial or agricultural waste materials (e.g. paper, wood sugar-refining waste) that contain the right balance of nutrients. They can produce protein rapidly and efficiently. In addition, protein products from microorganisms, such as the commercially available mycoprotein Quorn™, are suitable for vegetarians.


One calculation suggests that the protein requirements of 1 billion people could be satisfied by a vat protein facility covering only 4 square kilometers of land.
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Unread postby JohnDenver » Wed 06 Apr 2005, 22:08:02

In the footsteps of the Golden Arches:
"Moreover, he said, this year [2002] the company is set to sell its billionth portion of Quorn..." LINK

Another sales point: No mad cow disease, and no bird flu.
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Unread postby PenultimateManStanding » Wed 06 Apr 2005, 22:21:44

Never heard of this before, John, and it is very interesting. Now if we can just get the nanotechnology cranking out high performance solid state batteries to power our cars, and to make them weigh a fraction of metal cars, perhaps we can buy a decade or two to get alternative fuel sources that you tout up and running and the doomers will have to get used to the notion that 'life goes on, deal with it'.
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Unread postby OilsNotWell » Wed 06 Apr 2005, 22:26:05

There's a fungus..among us...

But at least Quorn ain't....people!

And that name is so...quorny.
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Unread postby RonMN » Wed 06 Apr 2005, 22:40:47

Beer was considered a food. as the pilgrams actually stopped on plymouth rock because they ran out of beer. (they needed to replentish their food source).
Maybe that's what we're dealing with here.
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Unread postby clv101 » Thu 07 Apr 2005, 01:06:28

So Quorn increases the carrying capacity by x. Population increases by x. We're back where we started only with an even larger population and half of them supported by a single industrial process.

Quorn doesn't address the problem of exponential growth and unsustainable behaviour in a finite system.
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Unread postby ShawnAvery » Thu 07 Apr 2005, 04:19:20

what it DOES do is address the problems of feeding people in areas where farms are not economical AKA ARIZONA!!!!!

show me how to make some and i swear ill go into business.

serious!
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Re: Quorna

Unread postby Wildwell » Thu 07 Apr 2005, 04:32:08

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his is a radical development which could greatly affect carrying capacity. ... In addition, protein products from microorganisms, such as the commercially available mycoprotein Quorna are suitable for vegetarians.

One calculation suggests that the protein requirements of 1 billion people could be satisfied by a vat protein facility covering only 4 square kilometers of land.

Been about for years, I eat the stuff all the time when I go through 'Meat free' phases. It's pretty good.

All that is well and good, said Michael Jacobson, the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, but people would be a lot less receptive to Quorn if they know what it is: a fungus that comes from the ground, an organism that's "grown in big vats in England."

Yep, but the alternative is to eat something that grows on bones, lives, eats, breathes, shits, pisses, gets emotional and suffers from disease and has a brain.

I don't see what the big deal is about eating fungi. Some cheeses and yoghurts are full of it.
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Unread postby Doly » Thu 07 Apr 2005, 06:04:22

I've been eating a lot of Quorn lately, because I'm vegetarian but my husband isn't, and it's a good compromise. What I've noticed is that it's fairly expensive. So I doubt it's that incredibly cheap to make.
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Unread postby Madpaddy » Thu 07 Apr 2005, 07:03:53

I had a Quorn burger yesterday with Hellman's burger sauce in organic bread. Absolutely delicious.
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Unread postby gg3 » Thu 07 Apr 2005, 08:07:08

Hmm, I wish I knew where to get the stuff in the US. Unless it's already in various insta-meals I've been eating and I haven't noticed the difference.

I've eaten my share of TVP (texturized vegetable protein, made from soy) and it's quite decent; good substitute for ground beef, and/or can be used to stretch a supply of ground beef to go many times further.

Re. population & carrying capacity: Very simple. Just add something to the food supply that suppresses sperm count. Keep it a big secret. Poo on the "my seed is God's Gift to Man" cr*p, people need to stop living on atavistic instincts & start using their cerebral cortexes before we plunge over the cliff.
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Unread postby Yavicleus » Thu 07 Apr 2005, 09:40:55

This and other such great ideas is why I don't think that there will be a die-off.

A new, unending great depression, which will halt birthrates in their tracks, but no die off.
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Unread postby aflurry » Thu 07 Apr 2005, 10:57:10

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')
But at least Quorn ain't....people!



man, for a minute there i thought that was going to be what it was... Soylent Quorn. i think that as the tension of impending collapse becomes greater, the proposed solutions offered by industrial interests are going to be more bizarre.

i'm sure it is as paletable for a few bites, but a steady diet of grey/blue vat grown fungus waste from birth til death? Is that living? Is that the argument against the doomsayers? no thanks.

There is a great article in April 2005 Harper's Magazine about what Cuba did to their agriculture when The USSR collapsed and they lost all imports. Even a glancing mention of Peak Oil in the text. Out of necessity they switched to something very close to locally grown, non-industrial organic farming. when they couldn't run the old soviet tractors, they started using oxen again... the soil gradually improved from its ruined state after industrial monoculture, the capacity grew, food supply increased. but also, the variety and taste of what was grown was greatly improved. not only is the population better fed, but they get to eat good, fresh, tasty food. compare that to nuitritionally stripped, bland soviet wheat flour, and you actually get a feeling for what a real argument against the doomsayers might look like.

one advantage that Cuba had over the US though is a strong investment in agricultural education that was not just corporate training sponsored by Monsanto. If the US agricutural system falls apart, we may be sending ambassadors to Cuba to learn how to dig ourselves out of the mess.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')A new, unending great depression, which will halt birthrates in their tracks, but no die off.


yep, because if there's one thing that poverty does it's decrease the birthrate. why just look at ummmm..... never mind.
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Unread postby The_Virginian » Thu 07 Apr 2005, 15:16:06

GG3 wrote:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')'ve eaten my share of TVP (texturized vegetable protein, made from soy) and it's quite decent


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')e. population & carrying capacity: Very simple. Just add something to the food supply that suppresses sperm count.


Well have I got happy news for YOU, Soy with all those phyto-estregens is a good way to reduce your birth rates by emasculation, so you are already munching on it.

http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/ (go to "male Health")

Yum Yum.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/hel ... 150263.htm

TVP has all sorts of goodies in it (unlike traditional fermented Soy). Aluminum is one of the extras picked up in the industrial process.

And Y'all expect me to be exited over yet another vat of who knows what?

I think I'll let the others preform the needed long term experament on human health...when the proccess is refined in say 50 years, and it is proven healthy...then I might take a bite if I'm alive.
[urlhttp://www.youtube.com/watchv=Ai4te4daLZs&feature=related[/url] "My soul longs for the candle and the spices. If only you would pour me a cup of wine for Havdalah...My heart yearning, I shall lift up my eyes to g-d, who provides for my needs day and night."
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Unread postby Ebyss » Thu 07 Apr 2005, 15:22:53

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ell have I got happy news for YOU, Soy with all those phyto-estregens is a good way to reduce your birth rates by emasculation, so you are already munching on it.


Japan are the worlds biggest consumers of soy.. they eat ALOT of it (for a very long time), and they seem to be reproducing at a fairly decent rate.
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Unread postby johnmarkos » Fri 08 Apr 2005, 00:04:32

My wife picked me up some Quorn at Rainbow Grocery today (maybe you can get some at Berkeley Bowl, gg3). Perhaps I'll make some for a midnight snack. Sara won't touch the stuff . . . yet.
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Unread postby johnmarkos » Fri 08 Apr 2005, 13:45:05

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '
')Quorn is exactly what is wrong with our petroleum-based food system.


Does Quorn require more or fewer petroleum inputs than conventionally grown vegetables or meat?
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