Feel the shift in the words. Lamb. A young, domesticated sheep. Mutton. Flesh from a lamb, for consumption. Meat. Flesh from any animal, for consumption. Protein. A macronutrient.
What is it about this word that made it suddenly take over?
I want to put forth the hypothesis that it's the spiritual brother of the word "plant-based." Back in the day, vegans got a reputation for making crumbly, dry, fake meat that didn't taste anything like meat as well as pissing everybody off by being judgy and annoying. For our vegan trailblazer friends, there weren't a lot of options. To be vegan, you you had to be a really serious vegan. Serious vegans got a reputation for being kind of annoying, but the message got through that maybe factory farms weren't so great.
Anyway, as the word vegan sailed through the US and got its cultural barnacles, a new word emerged. It was better. Faster. Less annoying -- at least, for a few years. That word was "plant-based." "Plant-based" sounds nicer because it doesn't sound like a religion. It sounds like a dietary preference.
People don't like to be vegan, because that sounds preachy, but they do like plant-based options, because that sounds healthy. And if eating plants is healthy, then what are meat-eaters supposed to eat that's also healthy? Well if there's one Atkins/Keto approved macronutrient, it's protein. Which happens to be in meat.
Americans eat quite a bit of meat. About 250 pounds a year of meat. They
I reckon that it's easier to stomach eating lots of protein than eating truckloads of meat.
I'm not a vegetarian.