Quantify "a lot."
> I'm not a vegan or even a vegetarian...
Maybe so, but your food choices seem to be similarly driven by some kind ideological motivation.
Not eating a burger frequently implies an idealogical motivation?
No, but seeking out one of these plant-burgers over real meat probably does.
It might be an ideology like "I care a lot about climate change," but I think it's unusual for people to make food choices ideologically like that; especially independently, outside of something like a religious group.
I think that puts a limit on the adoption of these substitutes. The vegetarians, vegans, and some other ideologicals will quickly jump on board. After that it will get a lot harder to sell these things.
Where I am, they're roughly the same price as real meat, easier to keep frozen, and I don't appreciably notice the difference (they're definitely not meat, but they're much better than the previous generation of meat alternatives).
Separately, a lot of my friends are vegetarian or vegan, which makes them convenient when I'm having company. But I'm perfectly content with them myself, as someone who loves animal products otherwise.
>No, but seeking out one of these plant-burgers over real meat probably does.
I'm not the person you're replying to but I don't see how that follows - wouldn't you try something new on a menu and then keep ordering it if you liked it? To refuse to try something because it doesn't contain meat seems, to use your words, ideologically motivated.
Also let's get real here - we're talking about burger patties, the majority of which will be served by fast food joints like Burger King and McDonalds. Thin, made out of flavourless meat and cooked until they're choking hazard dry.
Calling eating a plant meat "idealogical" like it's a bad thing is just pure deceptive rhetoric.
How many people would choose the beef?
That's where the chasm will be crossed. Farming can't scale further but vegan beef is tech. There's a lot of efficiency that can be added to the process to reduce costs and improve taste/texture.
Just like margarine.
> Imagine burger chains offering you the same two burgers. You can't taste the difference but one is 50c cheaper and healthier.
Key word: imagine, as in fantasy.
Honestly, I don't really see that happening, except at the very low end (e.g. swapping out a crap-quality McDonald's beef patty with some plant thing to save a nickle, but I'm not sure if even that would make any sense. IIRC, most of McDonald's beef comes from used-up diary cows (e.g. waste from other processes).
So far the price did go down and quality did improve but obviously it might hit a wall. I do feel that these are the type of processes that can be made more efficient at scale but that's a feeling from an external observer. Not an expert in the field.
OTOH the quality of meat is deteriorating due to industrial farming. Antibiotics, bad feed, etc. The quality vs. price problem goes both ways.
> ideological motivation
Maybe it's possible you don't literally mean "ideology" but the reasons people choose to consume less meat are typically epistemic:
* Because it reduces their carbon footprint and is better for the environment.
* Because, for them, cutting out meat improves their health. Usually related to cholesterol, blood pressure, heart disease, fiber, and sometimes osteoporosis.
* Because veggies and meat substitutes take longer to spoil.
* Because veggies and grains are less expensive.
* Because cutting out meat is associated with long term successful weight loss.
The only ideological reason to switch is animal suffering.
> Maybe so, but your food choices seem to be similarly driven by some kind ideological motivation.
No, not really. I like animal products a lot. I think the closest ideological interest I have here is broad environmentalism. My understanding is that that's a common interest, to say the least, and that I am not particularly stringent or earnest when it comes to it (at least in terms of my individual choices).
I'm not a conservative on most issues, but youthful (18-39) conservatives might be more ecologically bent than you would expect, so I'm not sure which ideology you were referring to. The "let it all burn" and "toss it into the ocean" attitude is a dinosaur and people are (finally) seeing the writing on the wall. The Boomers are retiring and starting to die off. Gen X and the generations after are starting to make decisions, and they've always been more ecologically sound on both sides of the isle.
https://www.climatesolution.eco/the-american-climate-contrac...
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/25/916238283/light-years-ahead-o...
EDIT: formatting
Any ideology that's mainly about something other than food (e.g. choosing a vegan diet out of concern for animal welfare).
You're not going to get anywhere close to 60% adoption of fake-meat without coercion or some unrealistic level of popular ideological commitment.
Though, honestly, I think they have a better chance at moving the needle with alternative meets like rabbits or even grasshoppers (eventually). Those veggie burgers are pretty bad for you, nutritionally.