As the world struggles with sustainable food production, Shurong Yang's "EATME" series suggests cultivating in-vitro human meat as an alternative to traditional meat. Inspired by Chinese folklore, this method uses her muscle cells in a lab-kitchen to create "humanplings," challenging cultural taboos and exploring ethical, environmental, and sustainability issues.
Humanplings
Feb 21, 2024
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As the world faces the challenge of sustainable food production amidst rising populations, animal rights concerns, and environmental issues from traditional animal farming, rethinking our food sources is crucial.
The "EATME" series by Shurong Yang presents a radical solution: cultivating and consuming in-vitro human meat. This method offers an alternative to resource-intensive meat production processes. While technically feasible, using human tissue in meat cultivation confronts deep-rooted cultural taboos against cannibalism.
Shurong's project draws from ancient Chinese folklore with disturbing tales of human flesh dumplings, proposing a new cannibalistic culture that doesn't harm but challenges societal norms and explores cellular agriculture's potential. This approach aims to address ethical, environmental, and sustainability issues of traditional meat production.
Shurong uses traditional dumpling-making techniques combined with cellular agriculture, using her muscle cells. She manages the entire process in a laboratory-kitchen, from cell cultivation to cooking and consuming these "humanplings." This innovative strategy introduces an autophagy cycle, prompting a reevaluation of current food production methods.
隨著全球人口逐漸接近永續食品容量的極限，加之傳統畜牧業所涉及的動物權益和環境問題，重新評估我們與食物的關係變得至關重要。 這種情況促使我們探索未被充分利用的食物資源，包括可能是我們自己的身體。
「EATME」系列提出了一種自給自足的方法，使個體能夠透過培養和烹飪體外人類肉類來滋養自己，為我們目前資源密集的肉類生產方法提供了解決方案。 儘管技術上可能利用人類組織和血清來培養肉類，但關於食人的深層文化禁忌嚴重影響了這種想法的接受度。
Shurong Yang 試圖創造一種創新的食人文化，從中國古代令人不安的民間傳說中汲取靈感，其中包含了人肉餃子的恐怖食譜。 值得注意的是，這種前衛的食人文化並不是建立在傷害的基礎上，而是旨在挑戰社會常規並深入探索細胞農業技術的能力。 這種方法旨在解決傳統肉類生產所涉及的倫理、環境和永續性難題。
在實現這一概念的過程中，Shurong 選擇保持傳統的餃子製作技術，但將其與細胞農業技術相結合，以生產來自她自己肌肉細胞的肉類。 她還建立了一個實驗室-廚房環境，以監督整個過程，從培養她的細胞到烹飪和最終消費這些「人肉餃子」。 這種開創性的策略建立了一個自噬循環，促使人們重新審視現有的食品生產系統。
Shurong Yang
Shurong Yang is an interdisciplinary speculative designer actively engaged in shaping the future. She employs imagination and design to present possibilities that transcend human-centred perspectives.
Shurong integrates the realms of bio-science and culinary art by using her body as a space for experimentation. She challenges the existing hierarchical systems of consumption that place humans above other beings. By raising the controversial topic of anthropophagy, she prompts the audience to redefine what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable human behaviour and to consider our relationship with food, population, and resources.
Shurong wants her audience to leave with questions rather than answers after experiencing her work.
Shurong Yang 是一位跨學科的推測設計師，積極參與塑造未來。她運用想像力和設計來呈現超越以人為中心的視角的可能性。
Shurong Yang 透過將自己的身體作為實驗空間，融合了生物科學和烹飪藝術的領域。她挑戰現有的將人類置於其他生物之上的消費等級體系。透過提出有爭議的人食話題，她促使觀眾重新定義什麼是可接受和不可接受的行為，並思考我們與食物、人口和資源的關係。
Yang 希望觀眾在體驗她的作品後，離開時帶著問題而不是答案。
All the images are courtesy of Shurong Yang
shurong0302@gmail.com
@shurongyang.world
https://shurongyangworld.com/
EATME: Humanplings
Facing the imminent threat of overpopulation and unsustainable food production, EATME suggests a radical solution: cultivating in-vitro human meat. By growing and consuming one's own muscle cells, we can address ethical and environmental issues of traditional farming. This concept, inspired by ancient Chinese folklore, challenges cultural taboos and promotes sustainable cellular agriculture.
