Plants do have feelings. Yes, I realize the people making this argument as a justification for eating meat are uneducated but factually it's true that plants experience pain, are self-aware, and even cry out (biochemically) to warn other plants when they're being attacked.

The difference in the case of a plant is that it's a decentralized organism that maintains its DNA across multiple "bodies". If I cut a few leaves off my kale plants, they continue to grow and produce new leaves, removing a leaf doesn't kill or permanently disfigure the plant.

Same with many plants - harvesting fruit doesn't kill a tree, in fact the tree wants animals to eat its fruit and distribute its seeds ("wants" in this case refers to a beneficial outcome to a behavior, and not an intentional, cognizant action*). Since plants maintain a continuous supply of stem cells throughout their life (meristematic tissue) their "suffering" is radically different than an animals.

I realize many vegans are just going with the "plants can't feel" mantra because its convenient for petty non-scientific arguments, but in reality plants are alien creatures compared to a human experience.

If anything the vegan argument should be that plants seem to be aware that we eat them and have reacted by creating things for us to eat in a symbiotic relationship - whereas obviously a cow doesn't include "get eaten" in its reproductive strategy.