Bill Gates: It's time to go to 100% synthetic beef

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Since this story has been making the rounds on social media, we might as well jump on the dogpile and briefly address it here. Bill Gates did an interview with Technology Review this week where he was promoting his new book, “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” During the interview, he told a reporter that he believes wealthier nations can help save the planet by “moving to 100% synthetic beef.” He is, of course, talking about the fake, plant-based meat such as that made by Beyond Meat, which we’ve covered here extensively in the past. He assured everyone that it would work out just fine, but not in lower-income, third-world nations. Just in the wealthier, more advanced countries. You know… like the United States. Let’s see if we can figure out why this is such a convenient position for Mr. Gates to take. (The Hill)

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Bill Gates recently said that he believes rich nations would help the global fight against climate change by consuming only plant-based meat products instead of beef.

In a recent interview with Technology Review, Gates discussed his new book, “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster,” and emphasized the benefits rich nations could produce by moving to “100% synthetic beef.”

“I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef,” Gates said when asked about how countries can help to reduce methane emissions when it comes to food production. “You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time.”

So we’re all going to “get used to the taste difference,” eh? And they are going to make it taste even better over time. So all of you out there who enjoy a good burger or even a nice cut of steak (if you can afford it under Bidenflation), don’t worry. You can just take one for the team. But who is this “they” Bill speaks of who will be producing all of this allegedly tasty fake beef?

As it turns out, the list includes companies such as Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, Memphis Meats and Hampton Creek Foods. But in what I’m sure is just some cosmic coincidence or a bit of synchronicity, Gates has invested heavily in all of those companies. So when he speaks of them as some sort of anonymous “they,” he might not be speaking as transparently as we might wish.

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But I’m sure Gates at least practices what he preaches, right? He must already be out there with his green superhero cape eating fake beef and saving the world. But unless this is a very recent development, it doesn’t sound as if that’s the case. According to a managing director for the Gates Foundation in an article published just last November, “If you get the lunchtime slot with Bill, you’re eating burgers. Someone will always be sent to get bags of McDonald’s.” He went on to say that he didn’t think Melinda let him eat burgers at home when they were still together.

There are a few McDonald serving plant-based burgers, but not all of them by any means. And if that’s what the runner was being sent out to pick up, you’d think they would mention that detail, right? And why would Melinda object if he was getting plant-based burgers? Sorry to say, but I think I smell a rat. And hopefully, that rat won’t wind up in the next “green solution” burgers we order.

Also note that Bill specifies that only the wealthier countries will be able to do this. That sounds like a nod to the fact that these “food” products are still quite expensive to produce, even compared to good steaks in this new era of record-setting inflation. That seems like it would be good news for Gates on two fronts. He would be making sure that the countries like the United States that can afford to buy a lot of beef would make the switch to the products that he’s heavily invested in. Plus, if you can’t convince enough people to make the switch on their own, as he said at the end of the interview, you could “use regulation to totally shift the demand.”

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That’s right. If you won’t switch over to the products that he’s invested in, he would like the government to force you to do it via mandates. Thanks a bunch, Bill, but if it’s all the same to you I’ll be sticking with the actual beef. But you go ahead and eat all of the Frankenstein burgers you can keep down.

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