Food culture is filled with imaginery, the pristine pastures you mentioned, people's need for "natural" food, etc. What kind of stories will you build when the food comes from some sterile laboratory? Where's the romance? I'm not saying there's a problem here, just mentioning that the way food is viewed from a cultural/sociological point will change when the supply chains, ingredients and industry changes. Something as simple as the emergence of processed foods changed the time of day food is consumed, made it more likely that families no longer eat at the same time, caused feelings of inadequacy in women who felt they should not feed their children processed foods, etc. And that happened decades ago and still ready-to-eat foods are something people discuss, compare and argue about in comparison to ordinary foods.
Personally? I enjoy and consume meat, but prefer less of it then most Americans as a percentage of my diet, my older sister and I were raised as 'mostly' vegetarians, but it didn't stick very well on me and barely at all on her. In terms of ethics, I don't think higher meat consumption is much to be worried about. Vegetarian for ethical reasons of killing a thinking creature, or consuming less meat for health or economic reasons, or simply not liking meat, those are all fine by me. Encouraging others not to though starts getting into the territory of what I normal dub 'Malthusian Cultists', who are people I generally feel are guilty of technophobia, especially if they advocate we actually decrease the human population, in which case I consider them guilty of inciting mass murder.
More broadly though, the meat vs plant argument will inevitably lead to maximizing resource efficiency in general, and that has a very dark zone when explored, even without getting very sci-fi-ey. Its also where a lot these so-called rational sorts prove they're more cult then scientist. Consider strawberries, you here complaints about beef and meat in general, but never strawberries. 10,000 pounds per acre is a very good yield for them. However, not only do they require absurd amounts of labor compared to meat or cereals - labor which burns many calories - but a strawberry only has about 150 calories a pound. So that's an annual yield of about 1.5 million calories an acre, very low by modern agricultural standards. And that without even factoring in all those calories burned picking the stuff, which is huge compared to something like corn or beef. A 10,000 pound/acre strawberry harvest generates about 2 man-years of food, a 160 bushel/acre corn harvest produces 20 man-years and does so with an entire order of magnitude less labor, and indeed you'll get more meat calories then strawberry and still with less labor. Yet no one complains of them, and strawberries aren't even a bad crop as these things go.It like people who encourage others to ride a bike or walk to work, not realizing that the person will burn up more fossil fuels in terms of the food they ate then just driving a car. Riding a bike to work for the exercise and fun is a different story, much like eating healthier foods you also enjoy.