In case you haven’t heard, they’re making meat out of plants. Burgers out of soy and coconut. Fried chicken out of jackfruit. Steaks out of “cooked wheat gluten.”

Brands like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have expanded into fast food, infiltrating chains like Burger King and Dunkin’ with meatless patties and breakfast sausage.

Meat people — that’s animal meat people, meaning ranchers and farmers and their lobbyists — say the competition is welcome. But, in 24 states this year, they have worked to pass legislation to make it illegal for plant-based food to be called meat. The measures’ supporters don’t want vegan or vegetarian food items to be called burgers, steaks or dogs.

In Louisiana, Francis Thompson, a Democratic state senator who sponsored a bill banning meat wo rds, said in session that the issue had gone unchecked for far too long. “Broccoli is not rice,” he said. “And certainly tofu burgers are not meat.”