Actual thought I had in the shower!
Gelatin was originally and still often is derived from meat by-products, so wouldn’t it make more sense as a meat dish?
I looked it up, and it turns out that accounts of aspic (a savory gelatin dish) predate the earliest record of gelatin desserts by more than half a millennium!
Maybe the mid-20th-century meat Jell-O trend makes more sense than I thought
To OPs point, it’s easier to have an inefficient reaction than an efficient one. Just surprised why some shrewd person hasn’t marketed it better.
Make your nasty market. Hmmm imagine gravy jelly and how annoying it would be. Though it makes more sense to use those popping pearls you find in boba shops. Yummy? Would you like to be customer number 2?
(Edit: nvm, apparently Italy exists and all are avid consumers. The children (and thus adults) yearn for the wiggle)
Hold on. What’s the most thick one can make gravy jelly? Gravy jelly babies!