This news flash is news to me. Vegetarian diet (and not much ovo nor lacto) for 25+ years.
I eat fake meat almost every day.
And in the summer, when neighbors cook some unidentified real meat on their grill, and it wafts over, I feel a twinge of carnivore frenzy, ready to fight them for their kill, with my claws and teeth.
(I suspect it was the heme iron in the burger btw)
I'd wager a lot that your craving was due to the psychology of the process you performed, not some actual physiological withdrawal. If you took your time and found other things that were good to eat, rather than 'quitting' your habitual foods, I don't imagine you would have any trouble at all.
My energy level was steadily declining, as you might expect for an iron deficiency. When I gave in and started eating burgers, they were profoundly tasty, and my energy levels recovered.
I've had dietary shifts in the past (from one omnivore diet to another) and nothing like this happened.
I'm on board with the ethical aspect of veganism. I'm annoyed by what I perceive as the ideological aspect, which pretends a vegan diet can easily be perfectly nutritious.
[I'm complaining about this because I'm hoping vegans will take a hard look in the mirror, and start taking nutrition seriously, so I won't suffer from an iron deficiency (or whatever it was!) if I try again in the future.]
Eat whatever you like but it's probably good to pause and really consider what you're wanting and why.
Meat is deeply satisfying and has lots of things we need in it. If you're fine with the process of how the meat makes it to your plate then just own that and enjoy it.
This is in party because once you become a heavy user, your body stops producing various chemicals or becomes accustomed to larger amounts to meet its baseline (such as dopamine and other neurotransmitters). When you stop your body slowly start producing those again and has to become accustomed to the new baseline. That craving is exactly your body telling you that you are missing something.
Is there anything that shows vegetarian and vegan dieters increase the production of chemicals associated with what they are refraining from? Most drug addictions deals with chemicals the body can make itself, but it the substances lacking in a vegan diet would seem to be things we cannot produce.
There are large populations that have eaten that way their entire life. I wonder how their body chemistry is different than those that started veganism later in life. They don't have to adjust. If they started eating meat, what changed in iron or protein synthesis do they go through?
But seriously, after 25+ years, though some of the taste of meat dishes would be good, the idea of eating meat is personally unappealing. Plus, I don't know that my system would even be able to process it. So, I'd expect to be grossed out, have GI plumbing and nutrition problems, and maybe frequent food poisoning.
I'm neutral on whether other people should go vegetarian, but personally I feel stuck with it.
Share your own experience and anecdotes - that's great! Once it reaches "you need to do X" it stops being effective at information transfer and becomes overbearing.