Grrl Power #1447 – Meat?
Fogo de Chão is my go-to for fancy restaurants. Birthdays, wanting to suffer from a delicious meat coma, other reasons… I’m sure there are some. It’s not really a Valentines Day place. Because the meat comas aren’t conducive to post-V-Day activities. Sure, you can go to other “fancier” steak places and spend $60 on an 8-ounce steak, or you can do churrascaria and get all you can eat amazing steak. The math works for me. It used to be my favorite thing to get there was the house special, Picanha, which is the “prime part of the top sirloin,” and don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic piece of meat, but over time, I migrated to the bottom sirloin. It’s like… a looser… weave? I like it. Go eat some.
There’s something wrong with that couch if flopping on one side of it makes you pop up all the way around the L-bend. Maybe it’s a single-piece inflatable couch. Oh! Maybe it’s a water-couch.
You know, if you had a machine that could just make quantumly-perfect meat, like, say you Star Trek style transported a cow, and kept it in the pattern buffer… I mean, kept a copy in the pattern buffer, then every once in a while, you energize just the ribeye part… it’d be perfectly ethical meat, right? It’d be just tissue. But beyond that, if could just make meat, I guess you’d have a library of pattern buffer meats you could print – why couldn’t you make other food? I don’t mean like, celery, I mean, couldn’t you invent food? Like, categories of food. Not meat or cheese or vegetables. Like cheese combined with… celery. NO! BAD IDEA! That would be absolutely… like… string cheese. Huh.
I know, food is just proteins and starches and sugars and all that, but surely you could make some food that’s like part ham and part avocado. Oh, geeze, that would be an upsetting texture. No, not some combo of two other foods, like a totally new kind of food. It would probably be hard to do, since most stuff you’d come up with would be either nutritionally inert or poisonous.
(The Cuisine Forge 5000 didn’t create meat from a pattern buffer, it transported meat… from sources. At random… It just worked at such an extreme range (measured in thousands of light years) that no on realized it for several years.)
Ah! I thought I had more time till March. I’m bad at looking at dates apparently.
Here is Gaxgy’s painting Maxima promised him. Weird how he draws almost exactly like me.
I did try and do an oil painting version of this, by actually re-painting over the whole thing with brush-strokey brushes, but what I figured out is that most brushy oil paintings are kind of low detail. Sure, a skilled painter like Bob Ross or whoever can dab a brush down a canvas and make a great looking tree or a shed with shingles, but in trying to preserve the detail of my picture (eyelashes, reflections, etc) was that I had to keep making the brush smaller and smaller, and the end result was that honestly, it didn’t really look all that oil-painted. I’ll post that version over at Patreon, just for fun, but I kind of quit on it after getting mostly done with re-painting Max.
Patreon has a no-dragon-bikini version of of the picture as well, naturally.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
Here’s a question: would vat-grown pork be considered kosher, since it didn’t come from an actual pig?
For my part, I’m thinking of both beef AND pork being cloned in a repeating pattern of muscle cells surrounded by fat in a hexagonal honeycomb. Massive amounts of high quality, low cost, ethically sourced bacon AND wagyu beef!
That is likely going to depend on the Rabbi or Imam you ask. Apparently, that’s a matter of significant debate in the community, the answer will likely be based on whether you are Kosher because of religious observance, health, or tradition.
If you’re kosher for religious reasons, and this is a form of worship, then even cloned or lab grown meats from unclean animals would be avoided. Not eating unclean animals and avoiding other unclean practices is a matter of worship, not a practical one. (Pigs aren’t the only unclean animal. They’re just the most commonly discussed ones.)
However, many people argue that these purity laws were actually an early primer on sanitation and cleanliness. These laws were passed down as a way to stay healthy in a world where basic sanitation was not assured, and meats like pork could not always be properly cooked. So since replicated matter has no connection to the original, unclean animals, there is no risk of contamination. Therefore there’s no health reason to avoid pork, shellfish, reptiles, and other unclean animals.
As to the traditionalists: tradition is not logical, nor does it need to be. People follow tradition because that’s what their parents did. So those people will have to chart their own course when it comes to replicated foods. Some people won’t even let their video game characters eat unclean foods. Others will say “if it didn’t come from an actual pig, who cares?”
The usual answer to *any* question on Jewish law is “it depends”. That said, it is forbidden from *appearing* to violate the laws. So imitation bacon bits (which are usually soy) may not come from a pig, they *look* like actual bacon, and so are problematic.
If it’s vat-grown, it probably came from an actual pig at some point. We use an actual pig to get the schematics that we’re going to grow fake-pigs from.
If it’s more like the Cuisine Forge 6000 where it’s building a thing that, on a molecular level, resembles pig… I feel like we would pass laws saying you can’t call that pork. It would be marketed as “Porc!” or something like that. And while we’re in the world of science fantasy, you could make a “tofu steak” that tasted like pork, or chicken, or pure umami. Names become much less descriptive at that point.
so rabbis have already come to an agreement on lab grown meat’s kosher status a few years back. It is kosher, what they are going back and forth on currently is what kind of kosher rules it falls under(like whether it counts as meat or not).
source
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/366099
explanation of some of the considerations taken when determining kosher status
https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/teshuvot/lab-grown-meat_-can-you-eat-a-kosher-cheeseburger_-teachers-guide.pdf
Where there’s a rabbinic will, there’s a halachic way.
For food to be kosher, there are a few requirements:
1) For animals – they must chew cud and have split hooves (cows, sheep, goats) – pork, rabbit, eagle, and reptiles are forbidden. However since it’s not actually from an actual animal this might not be applicable.
2) Ritual slaughter (shechita) – mammals and fowl must be slaughtered by a ‘shochet’ in accordance with jewish law THIS is the one where ‘it depends’ because on one hand, since they’re lab grown, they CANT be slaughtered so they might not be capable of being kosher. On the other hand, it can be argued they are not actual mammals or fowl in the first place, in which case they ARE capable of being kosher.
3) Meat and dairy separation (no cooking, serving, or consuming meat and dairy together) – not applicable here.
4) fish and seafood – fish must have both fins and scales. Any shellfish is forbidden. I’m pretty sure it wouldnt matter if it was lab grown or not. But it probably depends on the same thing I mentioned in rule 2.
5) Neutral foods – foods that are neither meat nor dairy, such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, grains and fish can be consumed with meat or dairy.
6) Grape products. Anything made of grapes must be produced under jewish supervision.
7) Kosher certification – pretty sure even if it’s lab grown it would still have to be certified kosher by a rabbi.
Regarding number 7, could you imagine who proud all those moms will be if they could get a son who is a Rabbi, scientist and a doctor?!
This industry could make dreams come true.
Cloned meat does derive from a real animal, so I don’t think it would be a loophole around religious dietary restrictions, nor would it be a loophole around vegetarianism or veganism.
Totally artificial meat, made with a replicator or a nanofabricator or something, might be okay though? I know a few vegans who have said they’d have nmo problem with that. I also have a Jewish friend who says he’d be fine with it, but not with cloned meat, but he’s not strictly Orthodox.
I can understand Max’s preference for sirloin. It’s one of the, and I put this in heavy quotes here, “cheap” cuts of steak. A place that can do one well is usually worthy of praise.
That said, I prefer KC Strip.
Sirloin is good, although I don’t think I’ve ever heard of bottom sirloin. My preferred steak to eat is ribeye, but chuck roast / chuckeye steak is the one I generally prefer to purchase, as it’s very similar but a good deal cheaper (I generally refer to it as “poor man’s ribeye”). It’s also a good deal less tender (hence the lower price), so marinating it well is key (if not cutting it into cubes/strips, you’ll want to use a meat injector to get the marinade into the meat). Honestly, if there somehow existed a tomahawk/cowboy variant of chuckeye steak, it would be about perfect. Looks like Maxima prefers to eat leaner cuts.
My favorite steak is skirt steak actually. It’s just so delicious. But I do also like flank steak, round steak, and filet mignon as well, as part of my top 4.
Full on vegetarian here, no fishy half measures. Sydney’s reaction in the last would be exactly mine in that situation.
Pescetarian here… when I started skipping on meat intake, my taste slowly changed. A year in and pork or cow didn’t taste like something I wanted to eat anymore if I could avoid it. The same goes to any meat-free substitutes: If it tastes like meat, I dislike it now. (Chicken is bearable, if barely.)
Not a problem for you? Just curious, especially because it became a problem for me. Unexpectedly, I thought it would take some effort to avoid meat.
Carolina Reaper, Triple Capsicum. Quarter the size. I can see Frix in a space suit telling Cora that he’s going to air out the entire mess hall. As in space it. ALL OF IT.
Sydney wouldn’t be able to resist if he offered synthesized filet mignon with very a very high Scoville value. Of course, why stop there?
You know you are eating a lot when the waiters at Fogo de Chão starting pointing at you to the other waiters…not me but my then 17yr old son. He did not understand the green/red pattern for 40 minutes, he just said yes every time. He had lost ~20 lbs from too much exercise, not enough intake and was finally reverting to form
With regard to churrascaria, there’s a lovely little card game out by Cheapass Games. Welcome to Carnespadas, the Brazilian Steakhouse of the damned. There is no menu, but waiters come by with meat on swords and ask if you would like some more. And you always want more.
It’s a press your luck game, where you’re trying to avoid a meat you’ve already had, hopefully filling up your competition with low-scoring cards. Very fun, cute art (it’s one of their Zombie games)
Erm… Max’s elbow in that robe looks uncomfortably like……
….Max’s comfortable elbow.
(*I* don’ wanna do laps until the end of time!)
Note that Molecular Gastronomy is a thing… at least in Food Wars…
I mean, you’d think it would be a shorter time for someone to realize that the ‘Cuisine Forge 5000′ wasn’t using pattern buffers sooner than years. I suppose that could be because it was secure from hacking, which does make sense to prevent malicious changes. And maybe there were what appeared to be pattern buffers, but it was just using them to match. Possibly due an error in the code.
Gotta give ’em props if they managed to get the energy consumption down to not be noticeable for long range teleportation. Feels like it’d be quite a big power jump from what people had thought it was, to what it actually was.
Assuming that all this isn’t just jokes stuck in the description and not actually canon.
On the vote picture did Max have to zero out her armor stat to enable the dragon wings to sink into her flesh?
Having friends who were previously vegetarian or vegan. The answer normally is a HARD NO, that much meat would give her some major intestinal distress if her body isn’t used to it. She won’t have enough of the meat digesting enzymes in her system to properly digest it, a small bite of meat is more appropriate than a full steak.
But they do have magic healing potions so she could eat it and just take a health potion once she starts getting sick, or have a tablet to give her the enzymes
Ribeyes have too much fat for me… not only do you end up cutting it away (because who want to eat pure FAT!!!) but you’re paying for up to 20% of a steak that can’t be eaten. I like T-bones and strips, but I always have filet mignon if I can. Can’t beat it if it’s prepared properly.
I’d think with her super powers and all shed just take any piece, bone and all and chew that easy enough. I don’t think the tenderness of the cut would matter to her at all.
Harem is too small, that confused the hell out of me and I went thru the list of Cora’s DnD looking friends to find out who is the extremely small blonde.
…which somehow lacked that personality the bulk of Harem’s drawings have in spades.
As someone that works in a butcher shop; bottom sirloin/ball tip is a terrible cut… it would have been better for her to order a porterhouse or even a spencer.
By bottom siroin did you mean ball tips or the other muscle: US Cattlemens #185-D or tensor fasciae latae? Variously known as “tri-tip” on the US west coast, but also goes by other names elsewhere. (its the butt end of the whole sirloin, so there’s only one of them on a side of beef.)
If so, then, yes. It’s a really nice difference- and a very forgiving cut to deal with – esp when done properly over and oak fire (that is to say, the WHOLE TRI TIP… then sliced after it has a nice bark on it… ). That’s a regional southern california thing. Sort of like they do a whole beef brisket elsewhere…
Actual whole sirloin is really quite lean. If you dont mind the time, it makes for a very nice roast beef (as in thin sliced lunch meat) but that’s a 4 to 6 hour roasting time in an oven. Also makes for nice jerkey. again because it’s so lean. but that same feature can make it difficult as steak.
Behold, the marvels of the future and the choice paralysis it causes to today.
Wait, so does this mean that if you kept Scotty in the transporter buffer and only energized it to materialize a copy of his thigh each evening or something, that would constitute ethically sourced meat? Because I’m not entirely certain that works…
Hopefully Sidney remembers GITS SACS 2nd Gig episode 8
“Soshoku no Bansan FAKE FOOD” (素食の晩餐 FAKE FOOD)
one of the mused with themes is the real and the fake and replicating cuisine with vegetarian ingredients to appear as if they are the real thing on the plate visualy because how hard it is to give up the memory of having the real thing once you deny yourself access to it.
Batou and Togusa have an exchange near the end of the episode about it where Togusa wonders why they would invent such a finickity way of preparing food and Batou says something along the lines of “I don’t care how much you meditate and how enlightened you become you can’t ever forget those memories of having tasted the real thing.”
So Sidney, unless you get a high spec replicator to keep I’d say don’t do it.
Should go with a 96 ounce porterhouse, there, Max
“I mean, kept a copy in the pattern buffer, then every once in a while, you energize just the ribeye part… it’d be perfectly ethical meat, right?”
That would be like drinking milk or eating eggs, except you are also holding a cow hostage. So it can still be ethically objectionable.
“But beyond that, if could just make meat, I guess you’d have a library of pattern buffer meats you could print – why couldn’t you make other food? I don’t mean like, celery, I mean, couldn’t you invent food? Like, categories of food.”
The problem is really finding something actually tasty in the massive field of “technically edible and contains everything you need.”
Most of our cooking inventions are based on a limitation. Like having to preserve food with salt or sharp stuff. Resource shortages due to war or other disasters.
And then there is the issue with getting people to try something new. Friedrich II. had to order the germans to start growing potatoes. Some even say he tricked us, by guarding the fields (like they were something valuable) or that they were made only legal for the nobility, so everyone started farming them illegally.
My preferred cut is a Zabuton steak, but it’s not commonly available.
Ok, i think it’s just me, but is Max Winnie, the Poohing over there? Since she’s basicly naked under the superskin and all we actually saw her putting on was a shirt, and now the robe. We can only assume…
Scientifically cruelty free meat. Checkmate performitive vegans. Now this is beyond meat I could get behind.
I mean, we are honestly getting pretty close to it here. Certainly not ‘a meat forge in every kitchen’ point, but at the point where a dedicated lab could churn out enough culture grown meat to supply local demand.
But we are hitting snags for a couple reasons, including political and economic interests in cattle prices and (supposedly) concerns that it is safe for consumption and demands for lengthy trials before it is allowed on the market (e.g. that replacing your beef consumption with lab grown meat won’t give you cancer in five years). Personally, I think the latter state reason is just a cloaked version of the former, since any significant amount of people moving to lab meat would hurt ranching businesses and as such, they will spend as much money as needed to stop it from being legal to sell as long as they can.
Ayyyy I was thinking of that one! Come on, Sydney, split the difference and get some Ambrosia Plus !
The space demon is offering to introduce Syd to the pleasures of the flesh
Seefood dieter here, for what little it’s worth. My favorite cut is prime rib. I have no idea if it’s actually rib meat, but it’s darn tasty with just a little bit of salt and the hot brown liquid it’s usually served with.
My bigger question is, though; why does he look kinda sad in the last panel?
And why does that pillow/couch cover/something-a-ma-thing look like a woman’s “hot beef” or like an eye?
There is no ethical consumption in Capitalism.
Does Space have Capitalism ?
Depends on the definition.
Though to me, “capitalism” is a word used to describe a system by people who don’t like it, so any definition is likely to be wrong in some manner.
And what do the people who do like a system call it, hrrm?
you are looking at a bunch of investors into some else’s Solar SpaceForge.
I am pretty sure it’s capitalism
“Does space have capitalism?”
Have you ever read “Quantum Vibe”?
Once she tries steak, the ethical piscataian will go out the window.
You doubt Sydney’s commitment to ethics? She wanted very badly to be a superhero, yet shows some aversion to the fame, doesn’t seem to crave power, and has repeated crises over whether a specific action is right or wrong. I don’t think she’s likely to give up on an ethical position over how tasty a meal might be.
when you say “Fogo de Chao” you dont mean the one downtown or in the suburb right? having one of my favorite online presences close by was one thing, two was a coincidence, three was downright gobsmacking (despite how Andy ended up in the end) you dont mean to tell me there is potentialy a *fourth*
that said, i guess Sydney’s Vegetarianism is really a question of exactly why she chose it. for some its just strictly they cant abide the death of animals (despite it having been the human way for how many thousands of years now?) if its basically ‘printed’ meat using protein to form it, its little more than replicated matter at that point. (trying to NOT go off on the star trek tangent here)
The Cuisine Forge 5000 explains cattle mutilations…
And unfortunately waking up missing a kidney , CF5000 for urban myths made real.
So that ADHD thing at the end, decision paralysis is absolutely a thing. One time nothing sounds good and so you can’t force yourself to eat. Next time everything sounds amazing and you can’t decide which thing is “good” or “better” and so you can’t decide and that leads to… not eating.
So fun.