I have an irrational fear of jellyfish. Scientifically-minded folks tell me that the real name for my fear is scyphophobia, presumably from the Greek word for squishy monster.* If they ever say anything more about jellyfish, I never hear them over the sound of my screaming.
I had thought that my life was mostly insulated from these tiny (and not so tiny) stinging trash bags.** I work in publishing. I spend my days surrounded by books.
It turns out that nowhere is safe. Jellyfish have found their way inside of the publishing house. Companies are now making books out of them.
Saying the books are made out of jellyfish is, perhaps, melodramatic. The creatures that stalk me from the sea are only tangentially related to the process. However, Paul Shapiro’s book Clean Meat was indeed bound with lab-grown jellyfish collagen. Geltor, the company that created the cover, engineered the cover to be an environmentally friendly alternative to binding books in leather. Despite the cover’s origins, Shapiro told the San Francisco Chronicle that Clean Meat “looks and smells just like a leather-bound book.” Using synthetic jellyfish collagen is a perfect fit for Clean Meat. The book is about the different companies who are working to transform lab-created animal cells into meat. It may someday be the case that the ground bison meat sold in supermarkets never came from a living animal.
Shapiro and Geltor recently sold the first of these jellyfish books on eBay for $12,790. Proceeds from the sale go to the Good Food Institute, which, in a thematically appropriate move, is a nonprofit that promotes cultured meat.
Though fascinating, all of this leaves my lizard brain with a conundrum. I love books but hate jellyfish. Can I stand to hold a book made out of one?
Hopefully, yes. It sounds like the only sting in these books comes from words. I should be safe.
*Actually from the Greek word skyphos, a type of cup or goblet
** Yes, yes. I know jellyfish can be lovely and play vital roles in their ecosystems. Remember: phobia. Irrational.
(The original version of this post was originally published on Book Riot on 2/2/18.)
I’m with you – ban those nasty jellyfish from publishing. Although shrimp is another matter. I wonder if one of those books would come with cocktail sauce?
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That’s a thought! Instead of scratch and sniff, it could be…rip and dip?
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That is super bizarre! And now I think we should start calling jellyfish squishy monsters!
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Their just squishy little murder machines. Kidding, kidding. Only 20-40 people die each year from jellyfish stings, so a lightning strike will probably get me before they will. 😉
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This is definitely an interesting concept.
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People are so inventive with how they use and develop technology. I suppose it should be no surprise that we try to use creatures like jellyfish in new ways. (And yet I always am surprised. Go figure.)
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Hmm. Not sure how I would react to that. Jellyfish and me in the water together definitely does not mix. I put it down to a horrendous sting when I was eight. Can I live with them now? I doubt it!
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Oh, no! It’s funny how we take childhood injuries like that with us.
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I grew up along the FL panhandle coast. As kids, we use to gather washed up jellyfish (the big, fat, clear ones), cut them into chunks, and have jellyfish fights (hey, snow was rare). I don’t remember them stinging my hands or anywhere else I may have been hit. It’s amazing they’re now ending up in books! 🙂
–Michael
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Those sound like the same sort of jellyfish that I stumbled across when visiting the coastal Carolinas. (They were always very dead when I found them, but that didn’t stop me from glaring at them with suspicion.)
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At times swarms of jellyfish could be found just off the beach. Even avoiding direct contact with them couldn’t prevent being stung by tentacles that had broken off the creatures due to wave action. Those red welts were plentiful and painful, but didn’t deter young idiots (like me) from playing in the surf. 🙂
–Michael
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As a veggie, I thoroughly approve of anything that cuts down the need for killing animals:). What an ingenious solution!
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I had heard that scientists had come a long way in creating synthetic animal products, but I had never realized the diversity of the items they were creating. Fascinating.
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Yes, it is amazing, isn’t it? And hopefully, there will come a time when we stop slaughtering animals in their millions:(.
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Ah, but aren’t jellyfish, by definition, animals? I DO get your point. Just wondering if they harvest live ones for books, or can they use dead ones. 🙂
Oh how I wish pigs were vegetables. They tast SO GOOD!
–Michael
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They are not actually using jellyfish, surely? What they are using are lab-grown collagen based on jellyfish cells, so no jellyfish are farmed or harmed in the process… I know what you mean about pigs:). Though I’m surprised how little I miss meat.
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Woaaaah, that’s all I can say.
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I know, right? I cocked my head like a confused dog when I first read about this.
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This is quite a piece of information. I still prefer paper though, or a similar substitute that doesn’t cut down forests but smells like paper. I will pass the Jellyfish books, thank you very much.
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Luckily I don’t think paper is going anywhere anytime soon! Creating books out of jellyfish may technically be possible at this point, but it certainly isn’t cheap.
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Hemp is the answer to saving our forests; also, hemp would stop the waste of using corn as ethanol in gasoline. The yield of an acre of hemp compared to an acre of corn (or trees) is tremendous (don’t have the exact numbers on hand), PLUS hemp grows quickly, allowing for two or more havests during a growing season (depending on the location). I’m not talking about the marijuana plant (although I AM for legalizing it for medical purposes); there are strains containing very little THC (sp?). Hemp is a great source of paper, rope, and other commercial uses. It’s our BIG BROTHER GOVERNMENT getting in the way and causing all this unneccessary waste. Just my two-cents! 🙂
–Michael
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Fascinating stuff!
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I love jellyfish as long as they are on the other side of the glass (in an aquarium, the underside of a glass bottom boat, or the other side of my television screen). They are beautiful and fascinating and deadly (or at least hurt like hell).
The idea of eating meat that has never been part of a living animal seems…strange. Kinder, of course. But still unsettling.
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To be clear, science has run amok.
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I also have a crazy strong fear of jellyfish! There’s just something about them…ugh, it’s not right. And I’m definitely not interested in having them covering my books, ick.
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The way you describe your jellyfish fear almost reminds me of my irrational fear of dogs. 😀
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