It's crossed my mind quite a bit, but in my universe there are non-sentient animals that exist that fill much of the same role as livestock does. Especially sense in canon, only certain species are anthro.

makes sense to me tbh.

You know, Judy? I've been thinking the same thing myself. Given the exclusive availability of Seafood and Poultry/Bird Meat as the Carnivores' main food sources (Alongside of Insects), I thought it rather fun to theorise the meat options that Carnivores in a Prey/Predator world can enjoy. And if you wouldn't mind me divulging further, here are some ideas I'd like to pitch;

- The common staples for meat in many cultures, would be Chicken and its many forms of preparation, may it be fried, stewed, or roasted. But when it comes to Fish, Tuna and Sardines could probably fill that culinary spot.
- However, for some wealthier or more indulgent individuals, I imagine Ostrich and Salmon being the Carnivores' direct equivalent of a fine Steak made from Cow that humans would enjoy, but Ostrich would be the more direct equivalent to Beef from the Carnivores' sensibility, I think. Given how much ostrich meat resembles beef.
- And for a little something extra in the meat department, perhaps Sausages and Frankfurters enjoyed by Carnivores can be made primarily out of Chicken and Fish, but if you want something on the more high-end range, Crocodile Sausages would be perfect.

I hope these were helpful!

It depends which verse I'm writing.

Most of the time I have non-sentient versions of the animals and just nobody thinks about it.

In Zootopia fan stuff, I go with the bugs, poultry, and fish thing.

Nothing wrong with sticking to the staples. Most worlds have some form of the non-sentient meats and sometimes it's just implied. If you need to shine the focus on it then you can get creative. If you have people that must eat meat but all your meat is sentient then you need to create a supply that is socially acceptable. On the lighter side of things you may have a race who say religiously finds being consumed as their way into the afterlife. On the darker side of things becoming food for the carnivore population may be the end of a prison sentence. There's plenty of directions to go, it depends what fits best with your world. Simpler is often better but you can go wild with it if you want to divert from the norms.

In my books, meat is made in a factory. No real animal tissue. But it's still called meat.

I think this was explored quite a bit in Beastars, there'd most likely be a black market for meat.

in "Divinity: Dragon Commander" (Undead, Elven, Lizard, Dwarf, Human and Imps) there is a seventh race: Orcs, they live in tribes and even they could talk, still the others races declared Orcs "non sentient" and they breed Orcs for consumption and experimenting on (I recall a test from the Imps on an orc, can't remember what they were looking for, but they experimented with one Orc, they gave him a liquid and the poor Orc just... Melted in front of them. Trinculo shortfuse saw it and couldn't stop laughing)

Basically it's an example of a universe where a sentient race it's declared non-sentient and thus was ok to eat them.

I somewhat cheat in my universe by having a world with a non-anthro variety of alien fauna for the anthros to eat, and on top of that, technology has advanced to the point where synthetic meat products are also available.

For the sake of narrative potential, however, both of the above have their drawbacks, so there is also a market for food made from the anthro prey species that were originally part of the predators' diet. The means by which this third option are produced is a grey area. Some of it is legal, some isn't.

How about cultured meat where appropriate?

I love your worldbuilding

I think having antrho carnivores stick primarily to eating fish and/or birds is a fairly common solution. Except for those stories centered around, say, sapient fish, they tend not to elicit the same sort of empathetic response from viewers/readers as mammal species do and of course the carnivores have to eat something.

In the world I've created, all species exist in both anthropormorphic and feral forms, and the feral ones are non-sapient and on the same level as their real life counterparts. So while it's illegal, and indeed would be considered quite shocking, for an anthro carnivore to kill and eat an anthro herbivore - for example - an anthro carnivore eating a feral herbivore would be viewed with the same indifference most humans take toward eating chicken or beef. It's still considered somewhat rude to do something like eat a feral rabbit in front of an anthropomorphic one, unless you know for sure they don't mind, but it's a minor social faux pas at best.

I've never given any thought as to whether there are anthropomorphic fish, though. Almost all of my characters are mammals.

I've also toyed with the idea of the rise toward anthropomorphism and sapience coinciding with a greater tolerance for a generally omnivorous diet. One of my fox characters is married to a rabbit, and as a result she has given up eating meat to make things easier for both of them. Even though her wife wouldn't mind if she did.

Conversely, while most anthro rabbits do not eat meat, they have no trouble eating things like dairy products or eggs or pretty much anything else. Which doesn't make a lot of sense biologically, I know, but it's a high fantasy world so that's probably one of the lesser violations of reality I've committed.

Well guess none sentient animals or eggs and soy

there are like 4 ways to deal with that:
1. The stupid way: you don't aknowledge it.
2. The even stupidier way: they are vegan now
3. The Simple way: they eat non sapient prey animals
4. The one requiring most worldbuilding and also more open to intrigue: they openly eat sapient prey animals.

I have yet to see someone tackling the 4th case and do it in a way i find cool and interesting. (beastars was a disappointment to me)

I’ve always assumed that part of the anthropomorphication process changed dietary systems to allow more general omnivorous capabilities. The associations with the basal species’ proclivities largely stays. I’ve pondered and am as of yet undecided if the base species exist still or if they had to adapt other species into similar roles.

Well personally we only eat consenting adult females, and only after the second date...😏

Nivens universe. genegeneeried meat things, no brains to speak of . Just giant slug like things that are protein.

Ah the Bandersnatch aka Whitefoods. Funny thing, they are sentient and were genetically engineered 2 billion years ago. Long time Niven fan.

i forgot the sentient part.

That's most likely scenario.
I do entertain idea of there being non-anthropomorphic animals that are eaten by carnovires, that being one big point of contention between them, with deep cultural lore (like Canine ate his brother Avel and that's why carnivores are evil and should be oppressed) that is tied to food consumption. That carnivores take it as badge of honour to consume meat, while herbivores use it to justify oppression, though some secretly enjoy a burger or a steak.

Well in preindustrial world setting I have have the Preds eating non sentient meat animals. In some setting poultry and fish are the accepted protein sources for Preds. South Asian type story setting a lot of Fish and Poultry curries consumed by my feline characters who serve a high-status female Elephant. She does insist they consume it well away from her.

I believe we had a similar conversation awhile back, aye?

Yeah, all anthros in my universe are mammals, and the meat the carnivores eat are poultry and seafood. Not sure what this means for the ecosystem, but I don't think anybody else would think too hard about it.

Meat. Now... the big question... from where?