A recent survey by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Morning Consult found that a majority of US adults incorrectly believe that a plant-based diet is more expensive than one that includes meat and dairy.
The survey, which polled 2,206 US adults between June 10 and June 12, 2025, revealed that more than 60% of respondents share this view. Baby Boomers were the most likely to think that plant-based eating is significantly more expensive, with 67% of them believing plant-based foods cost somewhat or much more than a typical Standard American Diet.
It’s called capitalism. Specifically, it’s how market price is set.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/market-price.asp
People care way too little now about who sets prices.
Those black bean burgers are sold under a strategy of “luxury pricing” or “premium pricing” or “value based pricing”. Which is basically: “how much are you willing to pay?” https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/valuebasedpricing.asp
A lot of people live with the deeply wrong belief that prices are set based on the cost of production plus some % added on top to make a profit.