There may be some aspect of geopolitical independence here as well, if they're dependent on imports for luxury foods (like meat) then they're more exposed to higher prices and external supply issues (which might be health related, scarcity, or some kind of politically caused scarcity).

I must respectfully disagree. Geopolitical independence is fundamentally less of a concern for luxury goods. You not being able to get a fancy steak is not a national security threat.

Sure, but it's not going to make people happy. (tongue in cheek) Unhappy people can be a national security threat.

Isn’t part of the point that they are importing their staples and luxury, rice as well as steak?

Not in times of scarcity (with a recent example being the pandemic).

Meat is actually a "superfood" that gives you both energy and the building blocks your body needs to keep working. We don't need it in developped countries but in times of trouble when importations might be impossible, meat is not going to be a luxury.

> high-effort labmeat become more economical for Singapore than importing meat?

When you would be able to import the labmeat ingredients for at least 8x times the result weight of the imported meat.

Where S. would get these ingredients domestically?