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肉食星球：人造鮮肉與席捲而來的飲食文化
★亞馬遜五星推薦★
一項創新、引人入勝的研究，
以充滿幽默譏諷的第一人稱敘事，
從培養皿到整個地球，嘗試勾勒人類的未來樣貌。
2013年，一位荷蘭科學家發表了世上第一個實驗室出品漢堡。自此以後，用精心培養的組織製 作肉品的想法，就像野火一樣透過媒體擴散開來。同時，培養肉研究人員也開始與人口增長和氣候變化競爭，努力想要製造出具有永續性的蛋白質。《肉食星球》探 討如何在實驗室裡生成肉類的議題，並由此出發，提問設想食品在人類的未來意味著什麼。
本書作者既非支持者亦非批評者，而是投入五年時間研究，揭露有關實驗室培養肉的爭論如何超越了食品領域，肉類問題不僅僅是生產問題，在本質上是社會與政治 的問題，要我們去審視何謂正義，以及在一個共同且有限世界裡的理想生活模式。閱讀本書可能徹底改變我們對動物的看法，其與農田、使用、水的關係，並思考人 口問題，以及我們脆弱的生態系統維持生命的能力。作者認為即使培養肉「不成功」，仍能像科幻小說般成為一面重要的鏡子，讓與肉類有關的當代功能障礙現形。
人類正處在一個奇怪的時代，2003年，當加拿大暢銷小說家Margaret Atwood寫出《末世男女》揭露一個普遍食用培養肉的未來時，荷蘭的實驗室已經製造出史上第一塊培養肉漢堡排。現實趕上科幻幻想的速度如此迅速，不禁令 我們吃驚。人類對於未來的想像已經從「虛擬空間」（Cyberspace）變成「肉感現實」（Meatspace）。
一項關於人類的基本事實是，人類的食物來源之一是來自死去的動物肉體，而這遠從我們還沒演化為智人（Homo sapiens）時就是如此。現在這件事可能很快會改變，科技的進展已經將人類從狩獵帶向農業，也正在將人類從農業帶向實驗室。這項轉變可是一件嚴肅的大 事，但有點好笑的又是，這項轉變竟是從最一種最知名的、現代的美國食物──漢堡開始的。
這項轉變的影響將遠遠超過食物議題本身，試想看看，如果我們可以用人工培養組織來生產肉類，就不再需要殺害活生生的動物了！一種從沒有過父母的肉，一種從 不會死去的肉（至少不會導致一整隻動物死去），一種從未真正「活過」的肉。這不僅將徹底改變我們思考和對待動物的方式，也將改變我們對農業、水的使用、汙 染以及脆弱的生態系統的看法，它將改變整個動物養殖業以及我們利用環境的方式。
然而，人類對「肉慾」的不斷追求將可能會反噬人類的未來嗎？我們是否只是用另一種科技來解決某種科技導致的問題？現在的人類每一個新的世代都比上一代吃掉 更多的肉類，肉類的議題至關重要且影響重大，就像我們食品系統中的所有問題一樣，它不僅僅是生產問題，它本質上是社會和政治上的問題，它也要求我們思考關 於正義的問題以及在我們所共享的有限世界裡，什麼才是理想的生活方式。
本書作者花費了五年的時間研究培養肉這個現象，在本書中，他既不擁戴支持，也不嚴厲批評，而是以一種中立客觀的角度，引領我們看到培養肉的爭議事實上遠超越了食物議題本身，甚至也與食慾、成長以及資本主義有關。
當本書作者在2018年結束研究時，已經有許多事情改變了，當初示範史上第一塊培養肉的荷蘭科學家Mark Post成立了Mosa Meats公司，致力於培養肉的研究和普及；一家原本製造素食蛋黃醬的公司Hampton Creek，有一天則突然宣布他們正努力研究培養肉，並且承諾他們很快會將它端上客戶們的餐桌；由一位心臟病學家創立的食品技術公司Memphis Meats，則已經公布了一些培養的雞肉條和豬肉丸。從2013年到2018年的故事顯示的，已經不再是培養肉是否可能，而是「何時」的問題，然而與此同 時，相關的研究卻宛如被封在黑盒子般未受大眾的檢視，在2013、2014甚至2015年的時候，一位學者要參觀一家研究培養肉的公司是很容易的，但在 2018年時已經變得非常困難，即使看起來食品科學家宣布了某些研究成果，但社會科學家和媒體記者卻很難去確認和檢視當中的過程。當一切無法公開透明，你 就很難判斷什麼是真、什麼是假，而誰又可以信任。如今這個領域的發展已經像是一個大染缸，摻雜了從善待動物的善心到純粹的商業利益等各式各樣的企圖。
本書雖然以「培養肉」為話題的核心，然而更像是一本人類學的田野研究，它同時也深入歷史，如同一種民族誌研究（雖然使用這個專門研究人本身的學科名詞來描述有點怪！），透過這面稜鏡，我們將可以深度檢視我們這個患上肉類功能失調的當代社會各個面向。
一項創新、引人入勝的研究，
以充滿幽默譏諷的第一人稱敘事，
從培養皿到整個地球，嘗試勾勒人類的未來樣貌。
2013年，一位荷蘭科學家發表了世上第一個實驗室出品漢堡。自此以後，用精心培養的組織製 作肉品的想法，就像野火一樣透過媒體擴散開來。同時，培養肉研究人員也開始與人口增長和氣候變化競爭，努力想要製造出具有永續性的蛋白質。《肉食星球》探 討如何在實驗室裡生成肉類的議題，並由此出發，提問設想食品在人類的未來意味著什麼。
本書作者既非支持者亦非批評者，而是投入五年時間研究，揭露有關實驗室培養肉的爭論如何超越了食品領域，肉類問題不僅僅是生產問題，在本質上是社會與政治 的問題，要我們去審視何謂正義，以及在一個共同且有限世界裡的理想生活模式。閱讀本書可能徹底改變我們對動物的看法，其與農田、使用、水的關係，並思考人 口問題，以及我們脆弱的生態系統維持生命的能力。作者認為即使培養肉「不成功」，仍能像科幻小說般成為一面重要的鏡子，讓與肉類有關的當代功能障礙現形。
人類正處在一個奇怪的時代，2003年，當加拿大暢銷小說家Margaret Atwood寫出《末世男女》揭露一個普遍食用培養肉的未來時，荷蘭的實驗室已經製造出史上第一塊培養肉漢堡排。現實趕上科幻幻想的速度如此迅速，不禁令 我們吃驚。人類對於未來的想像已經從「虛擬空間」（Cyberspace）變成「肉感現實」（Meatspace）。
一項關於人類的基本事實是，人類的食物來源之一是來自死去的動物肉體，而這遠從我們還沒演化為智人（Homo sapiens）時就是如此。現在這件事可能很快會改變，科技的進展已經將人類從狩獵帶向農業，也正在將人類從農業帶向實驗室。這項轉變可是一件嚴肅的大 事，但有點好笑的又是，這項轉變竟是從最一種最知名的、現代的美國食物──漢堡開始的。
這項轉變的影響將遠遠超過食物議題本身，試想看看，如果我們可以用人工培養組織來生產肉類，就不再需要殺害活生生的動物了！一種從沒有過父母的肉，一種從 不會死去的肉（至少不會導致一整隻動物死去），一種從未真正「活過」的肉。這不僅將徹底改變我們思考和對待動物的方式，也將改變我們對農業、水的使用、汙 染以及脆弱的生態系統的看法，它將改變整個動物養殖業以及我們利用環境的方式。
然而，人類對「肉慾」的不斷追求將可能會反噬人類的未來嗎？我們是否只是用另一種科技來解決某種科技導致的問題？現在的人類每一個新的世代都比上一代吃掉 更多的肉類，肉類的議題至關重要且影響重大，就像我們食品系統中的所有問題一樣，它不僅僅是生產問題，它本質上是社會和政治上的問題，它也要求我們思考關 於正義的問題以及在我們所共享的有限世界裡，什麼才是理想的生活方式。
本書作者花費了五年的時間研究培養肉這個現象，在本書中，他既不擁戴支持，也不嚴厲批評，而是以一種中立客觀的角度，引領我們看到培養肉的爭議事實上遠超越了食物議題本身，甚至也與食慾、成長以及資本主義有關。
當本書作者在2018年結束研究時，已經有許多事情改變了，當初示範史上第一塊培養肉的荷蘭科學家Mark Post成立了Mosa Meats公司，致力於培養肉的研究和普及；一家原本製造素食蛋黃醬的公司Hampton Creek，有一天則突然宣布他們正努力研究培養肉，並且承諾他們很快會將它端上客戶們的餐桌；由一位心臟病學家創立的食品技術公司Memphis Meats，則已經公布了一些培養的雞肉條和豬肉丸。從2013年到2018年的故事顯示的，已經不再是培養肉是否可能，而是「何時」的問題，然而與此同 時，相關的研究卻宛如被封在黑盒子般未受大眾的檢視，在2013、2014甚至2015年的時候，一位學者要參觀一家研究培養肉的公司是很容易的，但在 2018年時已經變得非常困難，即使看起來食品科學家宣布了某些研究成果，但社會科學家和媒體記者卻很難去確認和檢視當中的過程。當一切無法公開透明，你 就很難判斷什麼是真、什麼是假，而誰又可以信任。如今這個領域的發展已經像是一個大染缸，摻雜了從善待動物的善心到純粹的商業利益等各式各樣的企圖。
本書雖然以「培養肉」為話題的核心，然而更像是一本人類學的田野研究，它同時也深入歷史，如同一種民族誌研究（雖然使用這個專門研究人本身的學科名詞來描述有點怪！），透過這面稜鏡，我們將可以深度檢視我們這個患上肉類功能失調的當代社會各個面向。
336 pages
First published September 3, 2019
19 people are currently reading
322 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 10, 2020
5th book for 2020.
A fascinating, discursive ethnographic, historical and philosophic reportage by Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft relating his five year (2013-2018) exploration of the promise and startup hype surrounding cultured meat (i.e., meat grown in vitro).
4-stars.
A fascinating, discursive ethnographic, historical and philosophic reportage by Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft relating his five year (2013-2018) exploration of the promise and startup hype surrounding cultured meat (i.e., meat grown in vitro).
4-stars.
September 23, 2019
'A biotechnological nature walk, an assemblage of detours through the history of the future of food, a collection of meditations on meat, attentive not only to the ideas of scientists and engineers but also the way they serve as catalysts for philosophical, anthropological, and historical inquiry. Not to set up manifestos for the future, but so that we might better know ourselves today.'
Erudite, witty, ironic, and sincere; made me 'remember that the uncompleted project of becoming what we might be starts with questions.'
Erudite, witty, ironic, and sincere; made me 'remember that the uncompleted project of becoming what we might be starts with questions.'
July 8, 2022
meat planet. Meat Planet. MEAT PLANET. MeAt pLaNeT. Meat. Planet.
My sister gave me this book as a gag gift because I once spent a holiday quite a few years back ranting effusively about the potential of in vitro MEAT (‘cultured meat,’ Wurgaft informs us it is now being branded) and I guess it left an impression. But the joke is on her. I read the whole thing and gained immeasurable power. I am an unstoppable MEAT computer piloting a MEAT puppet as it navigates this MEAT PLANET.
About 75 pages in you will be forced to reckon with the unsettling fact that this is not at all what you thought it was. It’s so much stranger. By this point, Wurgaft will have managed to talk about quite literally everything encircling the topic of ‘artificial flesh and the future of food’ while artfully managing to avoid touching the issue itself with any weight at all. He quotes Nietzsche and Lacan and Arendt and Schopenhauer. He divulges the etymological origins of many words and describes the decor of the many rooms in which he MEETS (and conducts ultimately unsatisfying conversations with) many people from tangentially related fields. He brings us along on his trips to Europe and doesn’t neglect to trace the inspiration of Soylent all the way back to its earliest literary source. He confesses his hopes and dreams and fears. It’s like a surreal portrait of a man who has lost all semblance of what Keats would call the ‘negative capability’ and is thereby unable to commit to any definitive statement on the topic in question. Like a really erudite student filibustering their way through a neglected class presentation, Wurgaft gish gallops the page count away, concluding only that this book was written too early to draw conclusions about the subject it was commissioned to explore.
The resulting text is wild. It’s like Ben Lerner does Out of Sheer Rage, but about MEAT instead. Subtextually, this book is not about the artificial flesh industry at all; it’s a subtle tale of a man’s slow descent into madness when confronted by the yawning inscrutability of existence. Wilder still, unlike the aforementioned works, this creation deadpans the entire thing. My guy Wurgaft writes a borderline stream-of-consciousness, meta-nonfictional academic fever dream called MEAT PLANET without winking to the reader even once.
Thank you, MEAT PLANET, for all the good times. Most of all, I’d like to thank you for introducing me to the gloriously repulsive term MEATSPACE – Wurgaft’s suggestion for how we might refer to the physical plane as a contrast to ‘cyberspace.’ I use it all the time. Once, I used it in a pitch meeting so much that a dude interrupted me to scream, “FOR FUCK’S SAKE JUST CALL IT IRL!” But fear not. I won’t stop. I’ll never stop.
One sweet quote by way of valediction:
“Perhaps what is truly unsettling about the concept of cannibal tissue culture experiments is not that we might eat one another, or ourselves, but that technology might introduce a new plasticity into our concept of what it is to be human. The flesh in the bioreactor is not sleeping; we are not waiting for it to wake up and be freshly animated by human will. Our cells, grown in tissue culture, implicate us in the order of livestock, and to eat them would mean embracing this reordering of the human condition.”
My sister gave me this book as a gag gift because I once spent a holiday quite a few years back ranting effusively about the potential of in vitro MEAT (‘cultured meat,’ Wurgaft informs us it is now being branded) and I guess it left an impression. But the joke is on her. I read the whole thing and gained immeasurable power. I am an unstoppable MEAT computer piloting a MEAT puppet as it navigates this MEAT PLANET.
About 75 pages in you will be forced to reckon with the unsettling fact that this is not at all what you thought it was. It’s so much stranger. By this point, Wurgaft will have managed to talk about quite literally everything encircling the topic of ‘artificial flesh and the future of food’ while artfully managing to avoid touching the issue itself with any weight at all. He quotes Nietzsche and Lacan and Arendt and Schopenhauer. He divulges the etymological origins of many words and describes the decor of the many rooms in which he MEETS (and conducts ultimately unsatisfying conversations with) many people from tangentially related fields. He brings us along on his trips to Europe and doesn’t neglect to trace the inspiration of Soylent all the way back to its earliest literary source. He confesses his hopes and dreams and fears. It’s like a surreal portrait of a man who has lost all semblance of what Keats would call the ‘negative capability’ and is thereby unable to commit to any definitive statement on the topic in question. Like a really erudite student filibustering their way through a neglected class presentation, Wurgaft gish gallops the page count away, concluding only that this book was written too early to draw conclusions about the subject it was commissioned to explore.
The resulting text is wild. It’s like Ben Lerner does Out of Sheer Rage, but about MEAT instead. Subtextually, this book is not about the artificial flesh industry at all; it’s a subtle tale of a man’s slow descent into madness when confronted by the yawning inscrutability of existence. Wilder still, unlike the aforementioned works, this creation deadpans the entire thing. My guy Wurgaft writes a borderline stream-of-consciousness, meta-nonfictional academic fever dream called MEAT PLANET without winking to the reader even once.
Thank you, MEAT PLANET, for all the good times. Most of all, I’d like to thank you for introducing me to the gloriously repulsive term MEATSPACE – Wurgaft’s suggestion for how we might refer to the physical plane as a contrast to ‘cyberspace.’ I use it all the time. Once, I used it in a pitch meeting so much that a dude interrupted me to scream, “FOR FUCK’S SAKE JUST CALL IT IRL!” But fear not. I won’t stop. I’ll never stop.
One sweet quote by way of valediction:
“Perhaps what is truly unsettling about the concept of cannibal tissue culture experiments is not that we might eat one another, or ourselves, but that technology might introduce a new plasticity into our concept of what it is to be human. The flesh in the bioreactor is not sleeping; we are not waiting for it to wake up and be freshly animated by human will. Our cells, grown in tissue culture, implicate us in the order of livestock, and to eat them would mean embracing this reordering of the human condition.”
February 21, 2020
Wurgaft makes you think!
April 20, 2020
Considering that while this book’s topic has the potential to explode, splattering itself across a plethora of pop culture discussions around our food industry, anthropological studies on the Agricultural Revolution, moral-philosophical oppositions, meat eating culture, political agendas, cattle farming sustainability, accessible food for all wealth classes, and the ethical conversation of whether science experimentation should really interfere with our everyday bread-and-butter. It’s plausible that the writer, and also likely most readers have gotten lost in this intricate web of discourse.
One must have to imagine the difficult task to balance between presenting scientific as well as historical and academic data into which all crammed under 200 pages writing is quite an ambitious task. Yet, we can’t help but to fantasize about that day when we could grab a hold onto a piece of work that has the answer to whether we are approaching the end of traditional animal farming since the Agricultural Revolution; transitioning into the beginning of the fine dining steak nights era delivered straight to you from a friendly local sourced lab. Perhaps let’s propose that lab-grown patties were even plausible, could it really adequately quench our deep affection toward meat to which humankind has been taught and accustomed to for thousands of years?
The craving from our curiosity into this futuristic endeavor might perhaps still within its premature stage from being fully fed. While it might come with a few dings and scratches, this -Meat Planet- isn’t a bad appetite to kickoff the conversation.
One must have to imagine the difficult task to balance between presenting scientific as well as historical and academic data into which all crammed under 200 pages writing is quite an ambitious task. Yet, we can’t help but to fantasize about that day when we could grab a hold onto a piece of work that has the answer to whether we are approaching the end of traditional animal farming since the Agricultural Revolution; transitioning into the beginning of the fine dining steak nights era delivered straight to you from a friendly local sourced lab. Perhaps let’s propose that lab-grown patties were even plausible, could it really adequately quench our deep affection toward meat to which humankind has been taught and accustomed to for thousands of years?
The craving from our curiosity into this futuristic endeavor might perhaps still within its premature stage from being fully fed. While it might come with a few dings and scratches, this -Meat Planet- isn’t a bad appetite to kickoff the conversation.
May 16, 2020
This book takes what is an interesting question of our time - do we eat cultivated meat and what does it mean if we do? - and makes it into an astonishingly uninteresting book. Each chapter is an entirely new idea that doesn't feel fully fleshed out (pun intended). In fact, the whole book reads more like the publishing company got tired of waiting for something to happen with the industry and decided to publish a series of essays on what cultivated meat could, possibly, potentially, one day mean philosophically for a handful of people. If you're willing to wade through the tangents and personal ramblings of the author.
Hopefully soon something better will come out!
Hopefully soon something better will come out!
November 24, 2023
肌纤维分为两种：白肌纤维，能令物疾速或猛然行动；红肌纤维，能令动物维持长时间活动。活动较敏捷的动物，如兔类动物（家兔、野兔和鼠免），往往有较多白肌纤维。而长时间持续运动的动物，如鲸鱼，其发力部位往往有较多的红肌细胞。白肌纤维由糖原（一种葡萄糖结构）供能，存储于纤维内部；而红肌纤维由脂肪供能，依靠一种把脂肪转化为能量的生化机制。该机制包含了构成肉类基本颜色的细胞色素（三种在细胞代谢与呼吸中起重要作用的化合物，由血红素分子与蛋白质键合而成）和肌红蛋白（一种能结合铁与氧的蛋白质）。肌纤维不含脂肪，但脂肪细胞群通常分布在肌纤维及周围结缔组织之间。要注意的是，瘦肉中大约75%为水，20%为蛋白质，3%一5%为脂肪。脂肪对肉味的构成起到了很大的作用。肌肉周围的结缔组织（很多肉块切面上看到的银色“薄面”）有两大主要功能。首先，它支撑肌肉的结构；其次，它将肌肉连到骨头上。构成肌肉的细胞型对于肉的口感自然重要，但肌肉结构也很重要。
https://medium.com/%E9%9A%A8%E7%AD%86... 寫得很好! (朝聖!)
https://taster.life/book-20210128/
https://medium.com/%E9%9A%A8%E7%AD%86... 寫得很好! (朝聖!)
https://taster.life/book-20210128/
January 16, 2025
Wow! A truly fascinating book, jam-packed with interesting insight about meat and humankind’s relationship to it. A few detours here and there into Greek mythology and the like, but always interesting - so certainly not a complaint. Anyone interested in anthropology and grappling with the most interesting ethical questions of our era will likely enjoy this book.
September 4, 2023
This book was written at least 5 years too early, and perhaps because of that, had very little substance on cultured meat
December 18, 2020
This book was surprisingly uninteresting. I had high hopes for the content, but was let down unfortunately.
July 3, 2025
在中文版書目出來之前，先把心得給寫了。
合先敘明，這本書我真的是沒辦法看完QQ
不知道是不是預設錯誤才看不下去，初衷是想了解人造肉帶來的社會問題等等，但這本書實在過於哲學了，看得我昏昏欲睡，即使如此，繼續想看完也做不到，因為在他的哲學討論中，我甚至抓不清楚每個章節的問題意識，讀起來像個人手札的喃喃自語。不得不放棄
合先敘明，這本書我真的是沒辦法看完QQ
不知道是不是預設錯誤才看不下去，初衷是想了解人造肉帶來的社會問題等等，但這本書實在過於哲學了，看得我昏昏欲睡，即使如此，繼續想看完也做不到，因為在他的哲學討論中，我甚至抓不清楚每個章節的問題意識，讀起來像個人手札的喃喃自語。不得不放棄
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