There’s never been a better time to cut back on meat. Over the last decade, we’ve seen alternative proteins transition from a niche product category to a whole industry in its own right. Since the much-hyped debuts of Impossible Foods’ and Beyond Meat’s flagship burgers in the mid-2010s, hyperrealistic plant-based meat has become ubiquitous. They’re sold in nearly every grocery store and they’re available at fast food restaurants. They even have celebrity endorsements.

KFC restaurants across the country will soon have plant-based chicken on the menu.

Beyond Fried Chicken will be offered at more than 4,000 KFC outlets for a limited time, starting Monday, January 10, KFC an supplier Beyond Meat announced Wednesday.

To be offered as a combo meal or a la carte in six- or 12-piece orders, the plant-based chicken won't "be prepared in a vegan/vegetarian manner," according to the release. 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report that Americans eat an average of 58 pounds of beef, 93 pounds of chicken, and 52 pounds of pork, per person, per year. Vegetarians, about 5% of the US adult population, do not eat meat (including poultry and seafood). The percentage of Americans who identify as vegetarian has remained steady for two decades. 11% of those who identify as liberal follow a vegetarian diet, compared to 2% of conservatives.

Becoming a vegetarian wasn’t that hard for Harper Dutton. The 26-year-old doesn’t really love the taste of meat anyway. So this summer, to help the environment, she quit.

What’s been more difficult is preparing to host Thanksgiving dinner. Weeks before the holiday, Dutton was practicing making stuffing without bacon or lard at her home in an Atlanta suburb. “It is proving to be extremely challenging,” she says.

Tammi Jonas lived as a vegetarian for a decade, but a pregnancy craving for a juicy hamburger changed the course of her life forever.
According to Australia's 10 Daily, Jonas, now 49, was inspired to become a vegetarian when was just 19 years old after reading philosopher Peter Singer's book, "Animal Liberation."

At the back of Costco's stores, past the televisions, jewelry, jumbo-sized ketchup jugs and tubs of mixed nuts, is one of the retailer's most prized items: The rotisserie chicken that costs just $4.99.

Cheap Kirkland Signature rotisserie chickens aren't only a quick way for families to get dinner on the table. For Costco, the chickens are a lure, pulling customers into stores and getting them to browse the aisles, adding sometimes hundreds of dollars worth of items to their shopping carts before they pick up that bird.

As concerns mount over the dangers of a rapidly warming planet, upstart food companies are targeting a major climate-damaging food: beef.

Beyond Meat and its privately held rival Impossible Foods have recently grabbed headlines and fast-food deals for their plant-based burgers that imitate the taste of beef.