It we ate real meat once or twice a month, we wouldn’t need this shit.
this does not gel well with the idea of having luxuries constantly - a thing that has been more and more prevalent as time gone by. People expect it now, and not being able to eat meat is a sign of poverty (when it isn't really for a long time in history).
But in any case I would always prefer something natural. I.e. not fake meat and not lab grown meat.
If we decided to indulge in real meat once or twice a month, I meant.
There are alternatives to meat, like bugs, but that is not what vegetarians do or preach.
They all say something along the lines "eat mostly legumes, whole grains, leafy green vegetables and other vegetables". It probably even tells you to cut down on beef and pork. Sweden's national food agency even has advice directed at vegans saying mostly the same things as it tells meaties, but adds "try to eat an iron source with all food (beans, nuts), supplement with b12 and use enriched milk replacements".
Yes, as I wrote we tend to eat too much meat in the west. But cutting down on meat consumption and eating mostly vegetables doesn't mean avoiding eating meat at all.
The problem is, I think, that people do not follow the guidelines of the food agencies anyway. If you follow the guidelines but on a vegan diet, making sure to supplement b12, you won't have to do any planning. A healthy dietary pattern looks the same if you don't eat meat. People most often just have to make sure they get enough calories.
What I will consider is something like mianjin, which is the gluten from wheat. Cheap, sustainable, protein-rich, and easily flavored to whatever food you want. Plus the leftover starches can be used to replicate other animal products like cheeses and bacon, albeit while being completely empty calories.
Around a quarter of the world eats insects each day.
I have actually eaten insects on more than one occasion (some kind of fried cricket, I think). They weren't especially tasty, but they also weren't bad. Just a fairly unexciting snack taste-wise. I'd say "high" game or strong cheese is far, far more of an acquired taste than they were.
Crustaceans are not insects, but insects basically derive from arthropod proto-crustaceans: fundamentally a prawn and a cricket are each roughly the same distance, phylogenetically speaking, from a cow (actually they have 6 legs, not 10, and most are air-breathers, so they're closer in some ways!). Indeed, they can both trigger shellfish allergies. Maybe we're just more used to "weird sea things" being food than "weird land things".
Putting aside the obvious aversion to insect morphologies, if they're being processed into some kind of protein meal, I don't really find that any more objectionable than mechanically-recovered meat slurry, which is a major component of lots of food. Which, to be fair, I do already, generally, avoid.
That said, I agree with you, those that advocate such a change are the last ones willing to do it (let's guess when meat will disappear from EU Parliament canteen).
Keep in mind that many people have ethical issues with killing animals for food. They can certainly switch to eating plants, but many won't. "fake meat" is the bridge they need to align their actions with their morals.