system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How are consumable meats cultured in labs?

Whenever I think of lab cultures I mostly think of bacteria in a Petri dish. How are theses meats able to "grow" and put on weight? How will they able to produce the amount of pounds of meat that is currently in demand?
gpt
Actually we all start out as a lump of cells when we were still an embryo. When cells divide, you will grow in size and your cells will start to specialize in certain functions (for example skin cells can absorb sunlight). Thus by absorbing enough nutrients, the lump of cells can divide and grow into a human.

Now if you want to grow meat, the process is more complex. Main problem is that the cells will try to specialize into a task. So you add drugs to stop the process. Also your Petri dish will run out of nutrients as the cells kept dividing non-stop, thus it will be better if you use an entire tank of cell culture instead. Just keep refilling the tank until the meat is ready.

Keep in mind though this is VERY expensive. Controlling the enviroment (temperature, pressure......) is not easy and it cost at least $10000 for a pound of lab grown meat. Most meat we eat today are just animals kept in farms (most likely GM for more meat), which is cheaper and safer.