I've seen this said before (I forget from who), but I honestly think that over the next few decades meat is going to go through a similar transition to tobacco.
I don't think it's ever going to disappear completely, but I think it's going to become something most people only enjoy once in a while if at all. I also think that meat consumption is going to be viewed in a significantly more negative light over time.
People forget that for much of the 3rd world, meat was an unaffordable luxury. It won't be for much longer as they develop.
Also, meat is a natural part of a healthy human diet. It's unrealistic to think that meat consumption is going to be viewed as tobacco. It's even more unrealistic to think a natural food source like meat is going to be replaced by lab produced processed food.
Your post reminds me of another false vegan trope. Fish is bad for you since it is filled with cancer causing chemicals. Yet, the healthiest and longest living people on earth are fish consuming japanese and mediterraneans.
A healthy balanced diet. Not the unhealthy extreme vegan or carnivore diet. But the natural human diet that all humans have always eaten - omnivore diet.
Okinawan Japanese that had the long life span only ate 3% of their calories from animal meat (fish). And it certainly wasn't the shitty, polluted fish we get today.
All blue zones - areas with people living the longest - have similar diets. So you can eat meat and be healthy, literally one meal per month. That's it.
Why? Do you think global warming considerations are going to be that mainstream? Tobacco has a lot of things going against it - it's bad for you in any amount and it gives off an unpleasant odor that stains fabric and walls. Not much of this applies to meat.
This is overblown and not nearly as well supported by science as you think. Just like how people said for decades that saturated fat is bad for you. It's provably not.
Try leaving some beef around the living room or smearing it across the wall. Smells even worse than cigarettes!
I think the parent comment had a point about morals, not the practical aspects. It is already starting to happen: what will my friends think of my leather jacket, can’t propose a barbecue for a company event, etc etc.
Why would it go through the same transition as tobacco? There is absolutely nothing good about tobacco. Meat however is nutritious, delicious, and healthy. I do agree with vegans that it is resource intensive compared with veggies. I will be happy to consume lab grown meat or veggie based meats as long as they don't have dangerous carbs and still taste as good as the original.
Sorry but no chance. For one it's not actually bad for you. A good meat stew for example is a culinary staple in almost every culture in the entire world and is considered both healthy and hardy. You can't say the same thing about tobacco.
I'll be happy to take another look when they can grow A5 Wagyu beef in a lab and not just trying to make plant matter act like meat.
To be perfectly blunt this entire thread is vegans patting themselves on the back. It's an echo chamber.
Killing an animal on a farm quickly and painlessly is a lot kinder than what that animal would experience in nature left to their own devices. Sadder still is that I suspect that a lot of these farm animals are likely to go extinct when the technology to grow meat in a lab becomes viable and cheaper. Considering how close we are to being able to produce human organs that can actually be transplanted into a live human it's not far fetched to think we'll be able to grow high quality, beautifully marbled muscle tissue of various species in the not too distant future.
I don't think it's ever going to disappear completely, but I think it's going to become something most people only enjoy once in a while if at all. I also think that meat consumption is going to be viewed in a significantly more negative light over time.