It is a lifestyle when you have to think about what you are going to make or where you have to drive to not eat meat. That's very difficult for most people. It's not lazy or ignorant, it's just hard to fit that into an already hectic world.
Gilly - I think that the argument that it's very difficult for people to think about what they eat is a non-starter, my friend. Whatever you're eating - meat or not - should involve a little bit of thought, and like with anything that people add to their lives to try to better them (exercise, television, yoga, prayer, drinkin', drugs, etc.), once you start down the path of incorporating a little bit of extra thought about how to incorporate these things, you figure it out, and often, as they become more a natural part of your life, you wonder why you wondered that it would ever be so hard in the first place, you know?
As far as "where you have to drive" goes, I'm snarkily curious about where you eat or shop normally that doesn't have vegetables available or that serves ONLY meat? If there's truly NOTHING on the menu that's vegetarian, is it too much trouble to ask a waiter at an Italian restaurant if they can make that dish "without the pancetta," or at the Chinese place without chicken, or the French place without the duck confit? (Well, actually, fuck Cordon Bleu French cooking - notice I say nothing about French country cooking..). But seriously - options are always there.
As far as price goes, at least for what people perceive to be the more pricey "fake meat" options, if you're making burgers, Fresh Direct (I don't use it, but I figured they'd have prices on line... and they did) has ground beef patties at $6.99 a pound, which comes out to $0.44 an ounce, and Yves' veggie burgers at $3.29 for a 4 pack, which is 10.5 oz. of burger, which works out to $0.31 an ounce.
And just for the record, though people's fears about not getting enough protein are overwrought (most diets give us too MUCH), the beef has 23g and the Yves' have 12g of protein per serving, but the "serving size" of the beef patties is 4oz, so it works out to 5.75g per oz., and the "serving size" of the Yves' patties is 2.65oz, so it works out to 4.52g per oz. - a 1g per ounce difference.
And obviously, simple vegetables themselves are not going to out-price your normal shopping, since you probably buy them anyway. A 15.5 oz can of Goya pinto beans is just $0.89. A bunch of green kale - HUGELY nutritious - is $2.79. A bunch of broccoli is $1.99. Nasoya "Silken Light" tofu is $2.39 a pound, and "Boneless, skinless, chicken breast value pack" is $3.69 a pound. Beer is $1.44 per pound (6 12oz. bottles of Bud Light is $6.50).
Also, I gotta say, as this economic argument starts to get made, people are so worried about not offending each other with words like "lazy," etc., but there's a slight undercurrent of accusation in the "normal people can't take the time or afford to live like that" argument that's kind of offensive as well. The implication is that all vegetarians are bohemian lay-abouts with unlimited disposable income. Yes, I'm a musician by trade, but I've been living hand-to-mouth, as a vegetarian and vegan for the last 20 years. My parents, who both still work all day every day (my father for an average of 14 hours a day) went vegetarian when they were in their early 40s, working full time, with four kids, and managed to make it happen. It DOES take some extra thought (and thus, time) - but it's literally just "SOME" extra thought - it's not like you have to put your life on hold to go to grad school to get a degree, or something - we're talking about minutes and seconds here. I'd venture to say that we can all, if we chose to, find those minutes and seconds in our lives, whatever we need or want them for. Again - IF WE CHOSE TO. If you don't chose to, that's your choice - own it - but I have a hard time with the idea that it can't be done.
