http://www.gastronomica.

org/where-my-jetpack/

Dakota Barton
Michelle Szetela
Rhetorical Analysis
That VAT solution
Where is my Jetpack, beautifully written by Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft, was published on
Gastronomica in the year 20( ), it is an article about about how harmful of an existence many
people across the globe lead, from consuming small parts of of certain animals, such as cows,
chicken, and pigs. The article really causes an eye opening experience on quite a few levels, one
that some people may experience is at the beginning of the article a thought taht runs through
your mind is that they dont believe that the way they exist is wasteful, and then as the article
progresses these people realize just how wasteful it is to only eat a hamburger with cheese and
bacon. Bacon only being a very small fraction of the pig, and the beef being close to the same
percentage. Benjamin Wurgaft then goes on to explain that there is currently a hot pursuit for an
answer to the waste and greenhouse gasses that is produced day in and day out all across every
part of the globe, and that solution is not as Vat, or genetically produced meat created through invitro. and throughout the article Mr. Wurgaft goes on to show that no matter how something so
trivial and common, something that would initially be written off as little and insignificant, such
as a hamburger is actually hindering the environment by wasting the world's supply of vegetation
to grow animals and throw away perfectly good meat

The Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said Fifty years hence we shall escape the
absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast of wing, by growing these parts
separately under a suitable medium. (Winston Churchill para 1) Wurgaft chose to put this quote
in his article due to the sole fact that even back when Winston Churchill was the prime minister
of the United Kingdom, there was cause for worry about the future of the planet Earth. Churchill
knew that it was a terrible waste to raise a chicken for just its breast, however what he didnt
know was that the population of the planet would grow exponentially over the course of the next
fifty years. In fact, between now and 2030 the population of the planet is expected to rise for an
estimated seven billion people, to a whopping 9 billion people, that alone is a two billion people
jump in just 15 years. That is a 28% increase of people on this earth. since the Industrial
Revolution we have tried in vain to create a food of the future which would keep pace with the
growing population and avoid the mass malnutrition and starvation feared by Thomas Malthus.
Some scientists and technology trend-spotters think we are now very close (Benjamin Wurgaft
para 2)
From Eindhoven, The Netherlands to Tokyo, Japan, scientists are attempting to culture
the future of food. This future would be made of millions of cells of protein grown from a small
sample in some cases, a single cell taken from a food animal, usually a cow, pig, or chicken.
(Wurgaft para 7). The industrial revolution of the United States of America started in in the early
ninteenth century, and during the year 1900 only 10 percent of the worlds grains was fed to
animals that were to be slaughtered and made into food. even during the industrial revolution of
the US, when it was just ten percent grain consumption, there was still cause for worry, granted
most of the people worried about his startling fact were mostly those people who were farmers
and still depended on their crops for their own food, however then there wasnt such knowledge

of things like green house gasses as there are today, and really their only concern was the fact
that those grains could have been used for something else. Interestingly enough in 1990 when
global warming was a common knowledge, the same study taken in 1900 showed that forty five
percent of the worlds grain consumption went to animals that were to be slaughtered and used for
only small fractions of what they truly consist of, and, with that being said the amount of
greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere that year was also fairly exponential. The correlation
between what we eat and what is wasted, and the effect it has on the environment slow starts to
set in.
Scientists and promoters of vat meat face a double challenge: One of development and
engineering, and another of social acceptance. While hamburger-like meat products are feasible
today, palatable equivalents of steak and other recognizable cuts of meat will take far more
sophisticated versions of tissue (Wurgaft para 11). With Vat being the frontrunning answer to
wasting a cow for a few pound of hamburger, money is being poured right and left into it by
organizations such as PETA or People of the Ethical Treatment of Animals, all have their work
cut out for them, if you have every tasted tofu-burgers, or the meat SPAM, you most likely know
that though they may taste good to you and your taste buds, it is common knowledge that it
doesnt quite have the same taste as what it is supposed to be flavored after. however with the
amount of money that is being spent to fund this project, it would come as no surprise that Vat is
almost to the point that it taste just like a Porterhouse Steak, without being cut off of the loin of a
cow.
Benjamin Wurgaft writes a very effective and powerful article because he himself takes
into careful consideration to appeal to all types of readers, meaning that some readers respond
better to statistics than others, while with other readers that respond better to quotes coming from

highly recognizable names, such as Winston Churchill. However even though it was an
absolutely exceptionally written article, it still lacks the in portraying the actual threat that this
problem can cause. It pursuaded me to start worrying about my generation of offspring that will
be around during the time that global warming really starts to take effect on the world. Many
people can simply brush this off, due to the fact that it is something that is supposed to come
about quite a while after they have long since passed away and been forgotten, however, the way
this article is set up, it doesnt leave the very real message of impending doom that is absolutely
there. I do believe that through reading this article Wurgaft does make his point that this needs
attention immediately, however it is not persuasive enough to spur somebody up out of their seat
and actually do something about, instead it kind of gets boring after a while of reading it, and
kind of makes you care a bit less, unless you start to think of the outcome. By using a good mix
of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Wurgaft attempts to convince people that dont care, or simply dont
notice that eating a steak is actually hindering the environment that their lifestyle could
potentially be wasteful, and that there will soon be a tasty healthier alternative if we all simply
accept something and lead a healthier, less wasteful lifestyle.

Work Cited Page.

Wurgaft, Benjamin A. "Where Is My Jetpack?" Gastronomica. University of California Press,
12 July 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.