Actually Chinese hospitality I’ve seen involved honoured guests being served a parade of different animals, roasted and chopped in such a way that they were still clearly recognisable. My step daughters are vegan and found that much of south east Asia doesn’t understand the concept.
i think the point is that in poorer communities in most parts of the world meat is reserved for high days and holidays (or for honoured guests, weddings etc) when served in any great quantity. Day to day , rice/noodles/bread, dahls and vegetables make up the bulk of most meals. In China, Vietnam etc offal, tendon, feet, heads and bones will be thrown into a broth for flavour. But prime cuts of meat would not be the daily norm, for economic reasons.
It used to be that way in the west too, until we started intensively factory farming our meat. In poorer European countries they will still eat like that, and it's a good thing too, although in richer countried we have become rather detached from that sort of eating, finding it a bit of a challenge and a mystery to us. Too many years of prime chicken breast all skinned and boned for us has turned us all soft.
I remember in Bordeaux around the back of the Capucins food market, seeing a group of Roma gypsies huddled around a woman with a huge plastic sack full of meat and offal offcuts and bones. I'm guessing maybe she'd bought them cheaply from a butcher who couldn't use or sell those parts, or someone was raising and slaughtering something in their backyard and selling it. Not sure.
But the contents were being pulled out of the bag and inspected by half a dozen people and I have to say I didn't recognise them as any bits of meat you see in a butcher's or supermarket. It looked like the stuff that would go in the mincer, or maybe sent off for pet food. 
We've become a bit squeamish about that sort of thing, but it's absolutely right that we should get back in touch with using the whole animal. I am trying, but it's not something that always comes easily. Texurally some animal parts can be a challenge...
That's why Yorkshire pudding always used to be served before the meat main, it filled everyone up cheaply as meat was expensive and there wasn't much to go around. When I was growing up my grandparents would always serve bread and butter with a meal for the same reasons, although we did eat meat virtually daily, it wasn't served in huge quantities. And the meat we did have was often cheap cuts cooked long and slow. That's something most people have lost the art of in this country.
In Italy pasta is usually served first, so I guess historically that's for the same reason. Fill up on the cheap stuff first, so the meat/fish can go further.