In many near-future dystopian science fiction settings, prices on some items, particularly natural things created by natural processes as opposed to created in laboratories via synthetic processes, are quite high. This is particularly the case if the setting is specifically shown to be one of severe environmental degradation, where agriculture is difficult or natural agricultural products unsafe, or where most natural-born animals are extinct. People just take it for granted that certain things are not to be had for regular folks, or that if they are, they're grown in batches in laboratories, or in the case of animals, they may be machines designed to look like the real thing.