The push for x product but vegan annoys me quite a bit, tbh.
There are lots of really amazing vegan meals. But noooo, gotta emulate non-vegan meals. As you said, nutritionally empty, but also just plain tasting worse IME.
There are a lot of people like me that just prefer eating vegan foods for animal welfare reasons. But do love the taste of meat. It's also a good transitional method during a period of change because people already know what taste they like.
This is why. Of course many foods can be even better exploiting the best sides of their ingredients but it will be different so it will be harder to convince people. This will just take longer.
I think it's principally the vegan burgers that are pretty horrible, just big fatty patties with no nutricional value, and not very tasty either, with some exceptions like Beyond.
Nothing wrong with emulating non-vegan foods. Culturally we have honed non-vegan meals for a _long_ time, and it only makes sense to tap into those learning by substituting certain ingredients but keeping taste, mouthfeel and pairing options intact.
Of course, if you shovel nothing but processed food into your maw, that's going to be bad for you, vegan or not.
There are lots of really amazing vegan meals. But noooo, gotta emulate non-vegan meals. As you said, nutritionally empty, but also just plain tasting worse IME.