[sjwalter]

Depends on the animals.

My cows are fed exclusively grass, right to finishing.

My pigs and chickens are fed mixes of locally-sourced corn, oats, barley, peas, and lentils from organic growers. And they supplement with grasses and broadleafs because we raise 'em on pasture.

Well-raised, environmentally reasonably-fed animals cost lots of money.

Meat is basically the healthiest thing people can eat.

If you just take the pasture-raised cows alone, the grass grows itself and large herbivores are a natural part of the environment here--the environment and its polyculture would be harmed by their removal.

[orangeoxidation]

I don't expect the plant based products to outcompete high-quality, expensive, free-roaming cattle.

I hope it will outcompete cheap, monoculture-soy fed, medicine pumped, densely grown and factory slaughtered cheap meat.

The second is far more common than the first. As you said, good meat from well-raised animals is expensive.

So not the awesome and expensive steak you may eat from time to time, but the cheap meat in fast-food, the chicken-wings, burgers, lasagnas, pizzas, tacos, currys and more.

[halikular]

Totally agree with you. @orangeoxidation does have a point about the cheap meat, since that's nothing like traditionally raised animals.