This really depends on where you live. I didn't realise how spoilt I was living in Berlin until I moved away. Vegan butter that is as good as actual butter is widely available there, at about the same price - albeit unsalted.

I'm now in France, where big supermarkets often have a whole row of fridges dedicated to butter, and I've not as yet even seen one place selling any kind of modern vegan butter. I think it was the same story in Spain too, although I wasn't staying in large cities there.

I've tried a range of different vegan butters while I've been at home in the UK and they all just taste like margarine. France I can understand, as they have a big dairy culture (no pun intended - that would be too cheesy), but I'm at a loss to explain why the good stuff isn't widely available in the UK as the demand is there.

Have used it actually, but it's not as good. Also we know some dairy farming families and they aren't torturing their herd. Though you are right, I don't really care about the fate of them. As long as their isn't real sadistic cruelty. In that instance, I worry more about what it says about the people.

I'm far more interested in the environmental impact. I can't seam to digest meat substitutes (even when they are meant to be coeliac safe). We make a point of restraining our beef consumption due to the environmental impact, as it's the worse meat impact wise. I'd jump on lab meat and milk.

Agreed. Running out wise.

But the taste of the alternatives is simply not milk. Many find alternatives unpleasent. So their will always be a demand.

But yeah that demand is currently artificially high due to low pricing by supermarkets/delivery competition.

The whole thing is making things hard for dairy farms. Not just staffing that is more to do with the pricing.

But the whole supermarkets avoiding uK providers for cheese etc.

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

The association is funded by a number of food multinationals, pharmaceutical companies, and food industry lobbying groups, such as the National Confectioners Association. The Academy has faced controversy regarding corporate influence and its relationship with the food industry and funding from corporate groups such as McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Mars, and others.

...

During fiscal year 2015, the organisation received $1.1 million in corporate sponsorship's from companies like General Mills, Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co via donations, joint initiatives, and programs.

Emphasis mine. As always, it's important to view all organizations in the context of their relationship with other larger and more influential organizations.

1. The German Nutrition Society, DGE (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung) explicitly does not recommend a vegan diet for pregnant women, infants, children, or adolescents, citing insufficient data for these groups.

2. The German Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Polish National Consultant in the Field of Paediatrics and Spanish Paediatric Association do not recommend vegan diets during infancy or childhood.

3. The Swiss Federal Commission for Nutrition does not recommend vegan diets for pregnant women, infants, children, or older adults due to concerns about nutritional deficiencies in the absence of sufficient evidence.

4. The Belgium’s Royal Academy of Medicine advised that children, teenagers, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers should not follow a vegan diet. They described it as "restrictive" and potentially leading to developmental and nutritional issues if not carefully managed.

Isabelle Thiebaut, a co-author of the opinion and president of an European organization for dieticians, said that it is important to explain to parents about "weight-loss and psychomotor delays, undernutrition, anemia" and other possible nutritional shortfalls caused by a vegan diet for children.

5. The Spanish Paediatric Association advises against a vegan diet for infants and young children.

6. The Italian Society of Preventive and Social Pediatrics (SIPPS), together with the Italian Federation of Pediatricians (FIMP) and the Italian Society of Perinatal Medicine (SIMP) issued a joint position paper which concluded that vegan diets cannot be recommended for children because the diet leads to deficiencies in vitamin B12, calcium, DHA, iron and vitamin D. When these nutrients are missing, it negatively affects children's growth and neurocognitive development.

I have more of these. Veganism is generally not recommended by health professionals across the world for children. I'm sure you can find some authorities which disagree, but they are in the minority. I've provided peer reviewed research showing a clear health risk for children. Not every child who is raised on a vegan diet will suffer health issues, but it is an unnecessary risk, and some of the potential issues are permanent.

You need people to choose it. Pricing dairy and meat away from the masses makes it a social inequality thing. I don't think that is the answer anyone wants. It can't be a hair shirt thing. (Though if history is to go by, there will be affordable meat from somewhere, legal or not.)

It has got to be a better option thing. Like EVs vs ICE. Climate and pollution advantages are nice, but it's 10x running cost difference that sells EVs. It has to be a jam today option.