Alameda company producing plant-based egg substitute looks to crack breakfast market
ALAMEDA -- The price of eggs remains an ongoing concern at the grocery store, but an East Bay company is aiming to take the chicken out of the equation completely with their plant-based egg alternative.
When Chris Jones was a little boy, his mother would scold him for playing with his food. Thirty years later, he's made a career out of it.
"I'm getting the batter ready to test in the oven to see how it actually works as a pre-cooked," Jones said as he mixed his new formula.
A classically trained chef, Jones reached the pinnacle of the culinary world, working in Michelin-star kitchens. But then he became a dad. And with fatherhood came a new perspective on life.
"For me, it's a mission. My daughter is a vegetarian," he told KPIX. "She thinks animals are supposed to be pets as opposed to food."
For the last decade, he's been working to perfect a plant-based egg substitute that would rival the real thing.
The product and the company that shares its name -- called Just Egg -- uses mung beans as its base and is now in its fifth iteration.
For Jones, the biggest benefit is sustainability of the plant and helping animals. But he said there are other reasons people may want to try them.
"It could be health reasons; cholesterol, something you're worried about in your diet. It could be allergies that you have," Jones said.
Egg alternatives make up a tiny fraction of the egg market. But that might be changing as the products get better, and more people look for plant-based substitutes.
They've also gotten a lot more affordable. A double whammy of inflation and a devastating avian flu has sent egg prices soaring, leaving consumers shell-shocked.
From a nutritional standpoint, it's close to an egg, with the same amount of protein, calories, and fat. It has zero cholesterol and about twice the amount sodium.
But perhaps the most important question: does it taste like an egg?
A quick test by a KPIX reporter showed it's surprisingly close, though Jones will be the first to admit it's not an exact replica, at least not yet. Which is why you'll find him conducting internal taste tests on the daily.
Jones said the goal is to get to the point where customers can't tell the difference.
"It's our ethos," he said. "I want to serve you breakfast and [have you say], 'That's delicious.'"
And if he ever gets there, the old saying, "You need to crack a few eggs to make an omelet" might just reach its expiration date.
