Beyond the Natural - Cultivated Meat and the Fallacy of Nature’s Goodness
Cultivated meat has many challenges, such as regulatory approval, high costs, scaling, and the reproduction of taste and flavor. But none of these would matter if people don’t buy it. I am optimistic that someday we can cultivate meat that people want, but branding is a challenge. The common reason why people wouldn’t want to try it is that it is not natural.
When you go shopping in San Francisco, you sooner or later notice that many products are presented as natural products. In supermarkets, you’ll find vegetables marketed as “naturally grown without pesticides,” water bottles branded as “natural,” and spices labeled as “natural without additives” or “Non-MSG.” In pharmacies, shampoo is promoted as “organic” (a synonym for natural), moisturizers are advertised as “100% natural,” and cleaning products are touted as “free from synthetic chemicals” or “Non-GMO.”
Consumers are increasingly buying organic food. It’s wonderful that they are choosing products that benefit both our planet and our health. It’s also fantastic that many companies are responding to this demand by creating such products.
Many natural products are good for you, and people who love them will probably get more benefits than those who don’t care much.
However, natural isn’t always good, just as something unnatural isn’t always bad. Nature is filled with products that, while entirely natural, can be highly toxic, like poisonous mushrooms and castor beans. Many “unnatural” foods and medicines offer real health benefits, from synthetic vitamins that address nutrient gaps, to mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 and insulin for type 1 diabetes.
At first, I thought this pervasive disbelief in unnatural products stemmed from corporate propaganda mainly by food and cosmetic household products companies, but this may have been just a reaction to public needs.
Industrialization brought artificial products that had enormous negative externalities on human health and environmental pollution. Our parents may still remember DDT, a pesticide once hailed for its effectiveness but later banned due to its detrimental environmental and health impacts. Asbestos, a once-popular material praised for its heat resistance and durability in construction, was banned or restricted worldwide after it was found to cause serious respiratory diseases, including lung cancer and mesothelioma. Lead-based paints, once valued for their vibrant colors and durability, were eventually banned due to their neurotoxic effects, which are especially harmful to children.
It’s understandable that people began to equate artificial with bad and view its opposite, natural, as good. The term natural has become so prevalent in marketing campaigns probably in response to this fear.
However, overvaluing natural or organic foods is misguided, just as overvaluing appearance in people is. This leads to judging others based on their looks and foods based solely on their naturalness, despite the existence of beneficial unnatural foods.
This trend is challenging for alt-protein companies that are trying to bring meat alternatives to the market. That said, when the benefits outweigh their skepticism of trying something unnatural, people are willing to try unnatural products such as insulin and botox.
Thus, cultivated meat companies and alt-protein companies in general, need to make 10x better products to overcome skepticism against unnatural foods.