Even the most sustainable meat is worse for the environment than plant-based protein
https://www.fastcompany.com/90461008/this-graph-will-show-yo...
https://www.fastcompany.com/90461008/this-graph-will-show-yo...
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/impossible-burger#what-...
The Impossible Burger is supplemented with a ton of B vitamins (for thiamine, several weeks' supply).
Most vegans eat lots of other B containing foods, including yeast (which is after all how plant-eating animals manufacture B vitamins in the first place, by fermentation during digestion). But for those who want to get it along with their protein source, the plant-based meat-simulacra also contain it.
It’s incredibly difficult to get sufficient quantities of B12 outside of meat products or manufactured supplements.
So either way your B12 is coming from supplements. It's either in a pill already, or the flesh of animal who didn't want to die, and they simply took the pill on your behalf.
Most nutritional yeast is supplemented with B12. It's a good source of protein and other minerals.
Many vegetarians also eat fermented pickles that contain B12 naturally, though you do have to eat rather a lot to get sufficient B12.
By contrast, most non-vegetarians are very deficient in fiber, and nobody ever seems to bother about it.
[0] http://www.epic-oxford.org/publications/1554/serum-concentra...
No, they are not "clearly deficient while eating meat" as you claim. There's a documented B12 deficiency in vegans and vegetarians that isn't present in meat eaters.
> Omnivores had the lowest intake of Mg, vitamin C, vitamin E, niacin and folic acid. Vegans reported low intakes of Ca and a marginal consumption of the vitamins D and B12.
Honestly our food habits are just out of whack. If you go to any Asian or African country (outside the touristic areas) you'll find how many classical/common dishes taste great without meat. From Chinese noodle soups to Thai curries to Ethiopian bean dishes or Indian anything, you miss neither nutrients nor flavour without meat.
I would argue the vegetarian movement has made a huge impact in reawakening many 'western' recipes which disappeared when near became cheap. From beetroot to Brussels sprouts to pickles to lentil stews and grilled vegetables - lots of things are back on the plate.
All that long said for a short message: yes it can be very practical if we collectively (or individually) want it to be.
It's not practical to demand the entire planet become vegan.
As always: it's not allowed to ask for better people! We need to create a system that makes the wrong people do the right thing.
Or even better, a system that makes the "wrong" thing right (e.g. lab-grown meat).
If they can get it to 25% of its current cost, I could see it become viable to replace many uses of ground beef now. If they get it to 12-15% of its current cost, I think it would displace a massive percentage of purchases of meat protein. It really is good, not just “edible” and I can imagine they’re nowhere near the economic minimum cost to produce.