Episode 185
[FOCUS] Eating Insects And Cultured Meat?
Episode Summary: This episode episode is a segment from a previous episode in which Leekei and Jenn talk about insects and lab-grown meat, their value as a source of protein.
Jenn and Leekei talked about how insects are being used as a food source to reduce our carbon footprint. Different forms have already been used, including Cochineal in shakes and powdered forms in pet foods. They also discussed producing alternatives to meats by growing them in the laboratory.
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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Jenn Swanson and Leekei Tang.
From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and Community Connector, helping people help themselves.
Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.
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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.
Transcript
Have you heard about cultured meat?
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:Cultured meat?
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:Yes.
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:Yes.
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:Well, you mean the Beyond Meat?
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:No.
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:And The Impossible Burger.
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:No, no.
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:Those, um, impossible Burgers.
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:Uh, impossible Burger And Beyond.
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:Those are, um, let's
say, uh, big and meat.
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:I'm really talking about right
cultured meat, uh, which is.
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:Which is real, I don't know, , if I should
say real meat, but it's a lab grown meat.
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:So what they do is they take cells of
meat and they , make it grow, , in a lab.
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:And, apparently it's, uh, it's good.
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:It's really good.
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:And you can already buy it in
restaurants and in the market.
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:I think the only country that
you can do it is in Singapore.
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:There's a restaurant.
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:does that.
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:And uh, there's also, um, well actually
there are a couple of restaurants
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:where you can have this type of niche
and uh, also it's like Franken meat.
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:I don't know.
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:No, well, I dunno.
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:It's, you know, this is, this is all
the cultural baggage that you have.
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:. But no, it's not Franken me if you
wanna eat meat, and, uh, if you
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:like meat and, you don't want to hurt
animals, well, you need to find a way.
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:Wow.
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:I guess it's a solution.
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:Interesting.
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:Aren't humans fascinating?
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:They aren't human beings.
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:Just amazing that, that these
kinds of things can be dreamed up.
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:I mean, I think , , we do an awful lot of
damage and we talk about that a lot, but
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:we also are very innovative and creative.
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:Yes.
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:And.
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:. when we need to come up
with a solution, we do it.
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:Yes.
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:And that's, that's always hopeful,
and yeah, this is a solution.
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:I'm not saying that this is a good thing.
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:Right.
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:I'm just talking about this.
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:, just to show you there's
an, there's an option and
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:that, , to illustrate that Yeah.
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:Human beings are incredible creatures.
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:, . Wow.
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:So that's interesting.
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:So I wonder if you can buy, like I'm,
I'm a person who has a lot of allergies.
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:I'm allergic to nuts.
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:I'm allergic to soy.
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:I'm allergic to gluten.
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:Um, I try not to eat meat that
isn't ethically sourced, but it's
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:very hard to not eat meat at all
when I can't get protein from
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:tofu and I can't get protein from.
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:from nuts and, and that, so I'm
wondering if it's possible to source
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:cricket powder or some kind of
powdered insect to add into some kind
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:of, you know, if I was making a pro
my own protein bars, for example.
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:Yeah.
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:I wonder if it's possible to do that.
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:I think you can, and I think you should.
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:You should try.
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:Oh yeah, you can try, yes.
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:Yeah, cuz that might be a good, a
good way to do it if I can just.
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:. When I, when I was in, my
husband and I were in Africa.
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:We were in South Africa in 2011, I think.
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:And, uh, we were on a, uh,
staying in a place where, uh,
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:a game range, a safari range.
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:And we went out for a walk with a
guide one day, and it was very fun.
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:There were giraffe that were trying to
hide from us behind trees, but we could
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:still see them , but they were peeking.
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:. Anyway, one of the things the guy did
with us is he took a stick and he dug
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:a hole and he stuck the hole, the stick
in the hole, and he pulled out some
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:kind of insect and then he ate it,
and then he stuck the thing back in
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:the hole and then passed the insects
around to anyone who wanted to eat it.
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:My husband did.
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:I didn't see, but Oh my goodness.
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:Yeah.
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:So Husbanding experience.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:But it was a treat.
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:It was apparently a, a really sweet.
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:and uh, something that was
very common to do there and I
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:thought, Hmm, interesting . Yeah.
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:Maybe you'll try it.
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:Maybe, maybe one day.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Well, this was fun.
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:Now, now I, I'll take my Christmas
baking to a whole new lip
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:Yeah.
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:Maybe for, yeah.
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:Well, so this year's
Christmas , maybe my hum.
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:Bugs will be . Yeah.
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:That's fun.
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:Well, thanks for that.
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:It's good, good to know about these things
and that they're available already and,
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:and that more and more will be coming.
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:I'll, I'll have to do some research
and, uh, learn a little bit more.
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:And if anybody out there knows anything
or has a question about any of this,
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:make sure that you, uh, you let us know.
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:You can go to the Carbon Almanac
and go to our carbon sessions page.
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:, you can, uh, you can leave us a question.
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:You can, uh, you can tell us a
story about your experience eating
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:insects and, uh, you never know.
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:You might, uh, hear yourself on
a podcast in the near future.
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:Yeah, thanks leaky.
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:Thank you, Jen.
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:Bye.
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