Seems to me if we want a lower cost protein source compared to meat, we can just eat lentils.

we can yell "LENTILS" and open the lentil pipe, lentils will gush forth, chaos, lentils everywhere

Mmm daal.

Mujadara is the best

We don't, though. The market is quite clear that people do NOT want a protein source other than meat. We want actual meat.