[mcbits]

I'd think something like "lab-grown maple syrup" would be easier both to sell and (knowing nothing about how it would be produced) to produce. I love real maple syrup but can't justify paying $15 for a little vial of it. A 10-story building filled with layer upon layer of sap seeping from living wood cells is less disturbing of a vision than layers of pulsating flesh.

[ethanbond]

But the upside, financially and environmentally, is not nearly as substantial.

[stasmo]

Good point. Environmentally it would probably be net negative to stop using trees and move the production to a lab that consumes electricity.

[mcbits]

We can keep using trees, but this particular use of trees is already energy-intensive, materially intensive (thousands of miles of plastic tubes), sensitive to the weather each year, and geographically limited.