> It's sad to me that "western" cooking is so focused on meat as the centerpiece to cooking.

I wonder if that's for historical reasons. I'd assume that in previous centuries, only wealthy people would have the means to afford getting a cook that would be able to pass on their recipes in written form. As such, the recipes that survived would be the ones that would have access to expensive ingredients like meat and spices.

At least on the French side of things, Carême and Escoffier are very influential in classical French cuisine, and their audience was wealthy people, not commoners.