These Unusual Egg Alternatives Might Just Get You Through the Egg Shortage
The wonders of capitalism make hyper-realistic egg substitutes possible.
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As egg prices climb higher and grocery store shelves go bare, it's becoming more difficult for Americans to find or afford eggs. But worry not! The free market provides a spate of alternatives that can perform all the functions of typical eggs, but without the chicken (and the animal cruelty that comes with industrial egg production).
The most effective of these alternatives is JustEgg, developed by Eat Just, the company also behind one of the first forms of lab-grown chicken meat sold in the United States. While JustEgg is mostly made of mung beans, not lab-cultivated egg protein, this golden yellow liquid performs remarkably similarly to scrambled eggs.
I haven't eaten eggs in over three years, and JustEgg is a grocery staple for my family. It makes excellent (eggcellent?) scrambled eggs in the morning, but it's also my go-to for baking, as most other popular egg replacers just don't pack the protein and texture necessary to properly mimic chicken eggs. Coming in at $7.49 for a 16-ounce carton (roughly eight eggs' worth of liquid) at a nearby Safeway, it's more expensive than most regular eggs. But if a recent trip to my local Whole Foods was any indication, it's also the egg-like item most reliably in stock—so maybe give it a try?
This next egg alternative is more of a pure novelty than a workable swap for eggs. At several vegan restaurants, I've been able to try Yo Egg, which imitates poached and sunny-side-up eggs, runny yolk and all. While I find the white to be a bit rubbery, the yolk is spot-on, to the point that one of my meat-eating friends had to do a double-take when he tried it.
These egg alternatives show that, when someone has a good—or possibly a little wacky—idea, they can develop it, and sell it to people who get value out of it. As someone who doesn't eat eggs, these alternatives have made my life easier and better, and I hope that by voting with my dollars, even more motivated entrepreneurs will come up with better and more exciting egg substitutes.
While lab-grown meat has come under fire from protectionist state governments in recent years, realistic (but not lab-cultivated) egg alternatives have stayed relatively safe from overzealous regulators. Let's hope that as egg alternatives become more and more realistic, and therefore more likely to compete with chicken eggs, the government says out of this particular rooster fight.
