Adding a bullion cube of beef or chicken flavor isn't expensive, and after that's applied, you're pretty much at parity with real meat as far as flavor, often for less expense than using real meat.

A real foodie eh?

As someone who grew up eating meat, and still eats meat for various reasons (though I’m trying to cut down), I’m not sure I agree with that statement.

I recently has a $120 filet from a premium steakhouse for a special occasion. I'm sorry, but in my lifetime of being an "try anything" foodie I've never tried a meatless dish that comes within $3-40 of creating a food experience worth that much money to me, and that includes some stuff created by amazing Indian or Lebanese chefs (where I got the best meatless food I've ever eaten).

And here's the thing. I can make that filet. If I hit a butcher and get a prime cut of angus filet, toss it on the grill, I can have that $120 filet in front of me. I went through part of a culinary degree, and my wife comes from incredible restauranteurs of two cultures. If I were to dream of coming up with a $120 non-meat meal, it would require such an immense amount of expertise and skill. That $120 filet I could have mostly managed wiith none of the experience I have since picked up.

Beef (the most environmentally unfriendly meat) is far and away more expensive than vegan or vegetarian substitute ingredients

On beef, I lean to the simplicity. You're right about the price, but a good steak is worth the price in terms of enjoyment. At least to this foodie.

All meat, at least without any seasoning, I personally find pretty darn bland

I wouldn't call a little salt and pepper complicated. Would you? I wouldn't ever put more than that on a quality cut of beef. Compare that meat prep with, say, falafel.

A good head-to-head was creating meat toppings and creating veggie toppings. The fanciest meat topping I created was a delicious liver pate. Prep took me about 20 minutes. My wife's family has a meat-based cheeseball recipe that's about 30 minutes. Both are amazing. Compare to the excuisite mustardas and chutneys I've made, and the effort difference is an order of magnitude. For me, I'm talking hours of work, sauteing each ingredient and letting it cook down carefully to maximize flavor. And the latter start requiring more and more pricy specialized ingredients. Liver for pate is dirt cheap around here, and devilled ham (cheeseball) is pretty cheap, too. My chutney required specific harder-to-find breeds of fruit.

From your explanation of meat, I think it's clear you're not a huge fan of meat in general or that you've often been stuck with bad cuts of meat. The way you described meat "absorbing other flavors" is the one thing we were taught in culinary school you never do with your protein. In French Style cooking at least, your protein is your star - it's the most important part of the dish, and it's the one thing whose flavor should SHINE. Properly cooked duck is perhaps the perfect example of that. Duck L'orange is one of my favorite dishes, but the orange sauce needs to be on it sparingly because the point of the dish is that amazing and irreplacable flavor of Duck. The orange is like a stairway to get the duck from "great" to "life-changing"

My wife puts it this way with scallops (the scallop industry is in our family, sorry). If you want to buy scallops somewhere far from the ocean, you buy fried scallops because the scallop is basically ruined and you're just trying to get a hint of the flavor you like and drowning it in flavors that are palatable. If you eat a scallop off the boat, you pan-sear it with a pad of butter and some crushed cracker crumbs for about 2 minutes.

BUT, I tried some premade frozen impossible patties from costco, and I couldn’t believe how delicious they were

I didn't love Impossible. But I like my food elevated. I will agree that Impossible compares favorably to a "Applebees" burger, but I haven't eaten at Applebees in 5+ years. If I compare it instead to some fresh 80/20 from the butcher, mixed with a little bit of pork, it's a different world.

I'll agree the best fake meats can beat the worst real meats. I don't think that's a concession for someone who teaches himself to cook things because he thinks good food is worth the effort.

You can feel however you want but the fact is nobody here is forcing anything to do anything.

but it's just not legal. how are you able to survive while laws and social norms stop you eating absolutely anything?

Horse sausage is the way to go then.