Carniculture is here (almost)

[rancke]

I've seen the term "carniculture" in sci-fi books written in the 1990s or possibly earlier, and have definitely seen "vat-grown animal protein" used since the 1970s.

There's a detailed description of the concept in Pohl & Kornbluth's The Space Merchants (1952), but I can't remember if the term itself was used.


Hans

 

[kilemall]

Vat protein sure, and even before that the biobots of RUR, just never heard of the term carniculture before.

 

[aramis]

Vat protein sure, and even before that the biobots of RUR, just never heard of the term carniculture before.

From "carne" = meat and culture = to grow in a petri dish. Term's been around for at least 2 decades... but only in certain small circles has it been used much. Not like "Vegebilani," "Carnebilani" and "Canibilani"...

 

[BlackBat242]

And I am re-reading some of my library - and what do I run across today?

The Sands Of Mars Arthur C. Clarke (1952)[author's note says "written in the late 1940s"]

Chapter 8: the protagonist (sci-fi author who has taken a trip to the Mars colony) is touring some of the facilities - in particular the food-production facility (Dome Three):

Gibson knew very little about hydroponic farming and so was not really impressed by the figures Mayor Whittaker proudly poured in his ear. He could, however, appreciate that one of the greatest problems was meat production, and admired the ingenuity which had partly overcome this by extensive tissue-culture in great vats of nutrient fluid.

 

[kilemall]

From "carne" = meat and culture = to grow in a petri dish. Term's been around for at least 2 decades... but only in certain small circles has it been used much. Not like "Vegebilani," "Carnebilani" and "Canibilani"...

I can draw etymological inferences just fine, it's a normal skill set in science, or science fiction especially.

 

[BlackBat242]

I've seen the term "carniculture" in sci-fi books written in the 1990s or possibly earlier, and have definitely seen "vat-grown animal protein" used since the 1970s.

The term was used by H. Beam Piper. I recall that it was in Four-Day Planet, written in 1961; and in Space Viking, from 1962.

I was pretty sure I had read the term in older books, but couldn't even remember the author - which just proves that I need to dig Piper's books back out and re-read them.

I have all of his books, but haven't read most of them since the 1980s*, so they are definitely overdue for a revisiting!



* I re-read the Fuzzy books last year.

And in H. Beam Piper's Oomphel in the Sky (1960):

Bluelake was peaceful as they flew in over it, but it was an uneasy peace. They began running into military contragravity twenty miles beyond the open farmlands - they were the chlorophyll green of Terran vegetation - and the natives at work in the fields were being watched by more military and police vehicles. The carniculture plants, where Terran-type animal tissue was grown in nutrient-vats, were even more heavily guarded, and the native city was being patrolled from above and the streets were empty, even of the hordes of native children who usually played in them.

The above short story was in the book titled Federation, which is a 1981 collection of short stories dealing with the Terran Federation period of Piper's Terro-Human Future History (my copy was the Ace paperback printing of 1982).
Yes - I have begun re-reading my entire HBP collection!