[flukus]

The problem is that when there is availability fake meat can't compete on price, even with high local meat prices (mostly due to drought) real meat is still a much cheaper option. In my area 500g of ground beef is $6-7, up from $4 a year or two ago, but 300g of fake ground beef is $9. It just doesn't make sense to pay 30% more to get 30% less of an inferior substitute.

The question is why is the price so high, is it scale, inherent costs or just a virtue tax?

[robotron]

Guarantee its scale. I'm not a vegetarian but I've eaten meat analogues for decades - even before it was "trendy" - and they are actually better priced now than ever. The first few weeks of the panic buying had even my local kinda-small-town-turning-into-suburb grocery out of stock. Was hoping they would be a good alternative to have when my meat ran out. Guess I wasn't alone.