> My single biggest issue with these meat alternatives is I cannot understand why it's costing so much more than actual meat.

I'd imagine it's because of the economies of scale; once production ramps up to sufficiently-high volume, the prices should in theory go down. Availability in fast food should hopefully help with that.

Subsidies are another aspect to this, though I don't know offhand how heavily cattle ranching is subsidized v., say, corn or soy.