I wonder if the USA is unusually obsessive about meat and meat substitutes because, thanks to vast ranches and government subsidies, it has a steak culture. Even less prosperous Americans are used to looking at big red steaks at Walmart. They might believe, ignorant of how industrially cattle are raised, that this is real, honest-to-goodness meat as it should be. So, a meat substitute is a heinous opposite of that. Meanwhile, Europeans are used to eating meat (ground beef, chicken, pork) that is processed or less visibly impressive in some way, and a new twist on processed meat that has no actual meat isn’t so shocking.
Idk in large swaths of the country meat is sourced from local farmers. You can just buy a cow from a farmer and have it butchered. This is pretty common in america
Does that meat represent a substantial portion of the average meat consumed there? Some says the same here in Europe but still most go to the supermarket where most of the groceries aren't vegetarian, let alone vegan. I respectfully doubt there's places where people check the milk origin of their ice cream and never go to fast foods. It's great small local farmers and food-crafters exists with great quality outcome, but how do they compare in quantity with industrial meat, milk and eggs consumed in those large swaths?
