Have been almost completly vegetarian for the last 4 and a half years and was pretty much a carnivore before that, so I feel this is as unbiased of an opinion as is possible.
The Beyond, Gardien, Impossible, etc fake chicken have more flavor, nearly indistinguishable texture, are just as juicy, and aren’t greasy. At this point, I consider them better than regular chicken with the sole exception of fried chicken which was never my favorite but I can see the appeal of it.
I’ll concede that the beef substitutes have a ways to go (I like them and they’re not bad but they’re not fooling anyone, either) but they’re not the subject of this opinion.
Cook a chicken properly and it is delicious. The issue is that people mostly eat nuggets (which are good but…) where it is just breading and a bland flavorless mass.
Or they trim it to death and then overcook it (an ex managed to dry out thighs…). Which, to be fair, is true of beef as well. A LOT of the ultra lean cuts are horrendous without excessive amounts of sauce and spices.
That is actually a good point. I only eat white meat because I don’t like the gristly gross parts of the rest of it. Maybe I just don’t like the flavor of chicken…
And that is perfectly fine. But:
White meat is a real challenge. Tenderloins and wings (and back meat if you are a culture that eats it) are pretty easy to cook up. But breasts, especially modern breasts, are a huge challenge.
In large part because you don’t want grizzle or dangly bits. That is what you SHOULD be trimming off. But you do want fat pockets and connective tissue in the meat itself. That melts/renders and keeps the meat juicy while also soaking it with a LOT of flavor. In thighs those are the little specs of white fat/“skin” that are left over on top of the meat itself even if you take the skin off. Trim those and you remove much of the flavor.
But for breasts? Most of that is going to come from the skin itself. A skinless breast is one where you better damned well have a good sauce (preferably marinade) because “dry brining” only goes so far. But, unless you (spatchcock and) roast it, getting that to a safe temperature (which is nowhere near as high as you think it is but…) without drying out large chunks of it is really difficult. Which is why people tend to butterfly and pound it to even things out. Which… means you no longer have the skin to flavor it.