It seems the goal is in part to replace the animal-sourced sort-of-fake meat that's already a significant part of the world's diet, with a non-animal source that may be more environmentally friendly to produce.
A roasted chicken or a steak is one thing, but a lot of uses of "meat" really only call for some kind of processed product that has a certain taste and texture. Chicken patties at McDonald's, for example, are not actual cuts of chicken meat, but mechanically separated meat that's reformed into a patty that attempts to mimic a certain meat-ish texture. If you can mimic that same chicken-patty texture with a non-animal sourced set of ingredients as the input, I don't see it really as any less natural.
(Alas, it does me no good personally, because I'm allergic to soy protein.)
it's a worthwhile goal, but feel if we're in the business of making fake food, why not make it as nutritious as possible too? Environmentally friendly should be secondary.
A roasted chicken or a steak is one thing, but a lot of uses of "meat" really only call for some kind of processed product that has a certain taste and texture. Chicken patties at McDonald's, for example, are not actual cuts of chicken meat, but mechanically separated meat that's reformed into a patty that attempts to mimic a certain meat-ish texture. If you can mimic that same chicken-patty texture with a non-animal sourced set of ingredients as the input, I don't see it really as any less natural.
(Alas, it does me no good personally, because I'm allergic to soy protein.)