1) Vegetables are better than meat foods in the minds of the hundreds of millions of vegetarians out there.
2) Vegetarians do not consider their diet to be a 'sacrifice'. Quite the opposite. There are many benefits.
Therefore, one could argue, more people need to be educated on the benefits of plant-based diets, and they will choose them.
Changing the world's mind on this is a losing strategy for sustainability.
An even better analogy is tobacco use. In the 1950s and 1960s America, you'd hear the same kind of things about cigarettes as you do these days about meat-eating: it's red-blooded, it's manly, it's good for you! Meanwhile the incredibly high impact to health of people and populations was becoming more clear all the time, just like the consumption on meat.
Attitudes, beliefs, and stupid behaviors can and do change over time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt_use_rates_in_the_Uni...