"It's a single celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs."
...
"If you close your eyes, it almost feels like you're eating runny eggs."
"Yeah, or a bowl of snot."
The whole motivation of Cypher is because he wants to be plugged back in, and the movie presents it as him being sick and tired and the drab life aboard the ship. But they literally have a VR env that is completely realistic, and can give them any experience they want. The best food, the best entertainment, the "Lady in Red", etc.
I'm not sure if you actually know this, but AFAIK initially the script writers wanted it to be 'the human brain as CPU' but the studio was afraid the general movie populace (back in 1999) wouldn't know what a CPU was and thus wouldn't jive with it.
They have an unsophisticated, binary view of the world (for plot reasons, I guess) while some nuance and tolerance would have had made a more realistic and_human_take on the situation.
Cypher: You know, I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.
Agent Smith: Then we have a deal?
Cypher: I don’t want to remember nothing. Nothing. You understand? And I want to be rich. You know, someone important. Like an actor.
Agent Smith: Whatever you want, Mr. Reagan.
Cypher: Okay. I get my body back into a power plant, re-insert me into the Matrix, I’ll get you what you want.
Cypher didn't just want to eat fake steak, to him that wasn't enough. Ignorance is bliss. He wanted to eat fake steak and not know that it was fake.
It has A, B, C, D... (Without the "and" before D, it is arguable -- especially for those that like clarity of language -- but people do sometimes drop the "and" in casual speech)
Like if a mechanic said "We service Fords, Toyotas, Hondas, all the well known brands" it wouldn't imply that those three were the only major brands.