Plants? Animals? Labs? What is the Future of Meat? – Meat is considered the center of the Standard American Diet with Americans eating four times more meat than the global average. The UN predicts that consumption of animal-based food will rise 80% in the next few decades. This rise in global meat-eating threatens to increase deforestation in the Amazon and other parts of the world. Yet, many people around the world are protein-deficient and nutritionists argue that meat can help fill that need.