The Fake Chocolate Problem is Deeper Than You Think

Hey, this is a condensed edit from a two hour livestream, do you like or dislike this format? Let me know what you think! Thanks for watching, full livestream in description.

I'm actually very torn on the idea of artificial/synthetic chocolate. Yes, it's definitely going to come with it's added risks and feel weird for sure…But…
A. Chocolate wasn't healthy to begin with (Milk chocolate anyway)
B. All of the human rights abuses talked about for years in regards to chocolate consumption
C. Chocolate will not be so outrageously expensive. Unless you want the real stuff which I think is a fair trade off. Not all that different than real maple syrup vs fake aunt jemima.

Obviously these mega chocolate companies have been preparing for this reality for a long time and I don't think it's as bad for the world as many things mega corporations do.

Honestly I’m excited for cultured chocolate. Real chocolate tends to have super high levels of heavy metals, and with the amount of it I can eat sometimes, I really have to imagine it can’t be great for me.

In this case what’s going into it is controlled. It may lack some polyphenols and antioxidants, and it might lose some taste variety being essentially a monoculture.

All those things said, I eat chocolate as a snack. It’s not my sole source of plant nutrients. It’s also probably still going to be possible for companies to get exactly the taste they want. I’m not expecting the quality to decrease.

So… truthfully? I’m looking forward to cell cultured chocolate. Heavy metal free and no child labor required.

I did not expect to be faced with never eating chocolate again.

Fasting is becoming more valuable day by day.

Lab grown food is not something I am willing to accept.

Thank God I stopped eating sugary foods 20 years ago. Good luck out there, folks.

Hey, if you want to dig really deep, learn about the connections between big food companies and Israel. They knowingly poison you (the American) with your own money

I want to post the reply I left under another comment here, so everyone can see it:

"Thanks for acknowledging that the technology itself isn’t bad, as a biotech student i deal with growing things in bioreactors all the time, and it is safe, revolutionary and eco-friendly. I strongly suggest people read about liquid/solid-state/submerged fermentation, if they want to learn more about how it works. Basically farming microorganisms and cells in a controlled environment. There are some minor downsides, as with anything, but same technology used for growing "artificial" cocoa gave us available insulin, antibiotics and many many more things that we can’t now imagine our life without and use all the time."
(Even many plant extracts used in cosmetics and medicine aren’t literally pressed from plants grown in nature, but are produced using bioreactors, because it is less wasteful and much more scalable)

"What is scary about this is the socioeconomic impact of the decision to use lab-grown cocoa instead of caring about farmers and other important workers in Africa. Biotechnology, as any other science, should assist people and make their life better, not destroy them, it is devastating, when it is used not for advancement in humanity’s development, but solely for profit."

Although, as many pointed out, if this means abolishing child slavery in the finale, maybe long-term it isn’t that evil, but it is not my field of expertise, so can’t really commentate on that, what I can say, is that lab-grown cocoa is itself a great technology to develop, it’s the intention it is used with that’s questionable

personally, i hate this. maybe use the audio as a dub for more interesting scenes

Your nuance and breadth is so refreshing man

I mean isn't this just science? It is indistinguishable from the real stuff, it uses the same proteins and bonds. Its like the people that say 'omg theres wood in my food' when its just cellulose.

Caffeine is technically a pesticide produced by the plant. I wonder if lab grown chocolate will be caffeine free?

Am I misinterpreting the label on my chocolate? It has a usda organic symbol, which I think means it had to grow in soil, but without synthetic pesticides, right? And it has a fair trade logo, which I think means it meets some kind of standard for treatment/payment of the farmers? And it says it's cacao, which I think means it's minimally processed? And it says it's non alkalized, which also means it's minimally processed? And the only listed ingredient is organic cacao powder, which means there could be other things they don't have to list in there, like maltodextrin (like they do with monkfruit extract, which apparently can be MOSTLY maltodextrin without making it onto the label, because the serving sizes are so small), but it could also be 100% chocolate, right?

What's wrong with lab grown chocolate though?

Painful to watch.

Despite the chocolate not being real, you know the price isn’t gonna go down one cent for us