General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEnd Of The Egg? ‘Fake Egg’ Company Aims To Replace 79 Billion Chicken Eggs Laid Each Year
from Civil Eats:
End Of The Egg? Fake Egg Company Aims To Replace 79 Billion Chicken Eggs Laid Each Year
By Beth Hoffman on October 24, 2013
If you want to improve the treatment of millions of animals in our food supply chain, chickens are the low hanging fruit. With 99 percent of the 291 million egg-laying chickens in the U.S. living in cramped cages, there is a lot of room for progress in the industry.
Improved laws banning chicken cages is one way to tackle the issue. But for Josh Tetrick, CEO and Founder of Hampton Creek Foods, obliterating the caged-egg industry is another.
We dont want to take a percentage of the caged-chicken market, says Tetrick. We want to end the practice altogether, by making to make our product more affordable and better than eggs.
Tetricks product is, essentially, fake eggs. The company looked at the 22 different ways eggs are used in cooking (ie emulsification, aeration, binding) and found several ways plants could fill in for the 79 billion eggs laid each year. They came up with a range of substitutes to suit varying needs, like for use in baking and as a condiment for sandwiches. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2013/10/24/end-of-the-egg-fake-egg-company-aims-to-replace-79-billion-chicken-eggs-laid-each-year-2/#sthash.KnLADRmL.dpuf
longship
(40,416 posts)Nor the deviled egg. Nor poached. Nor a good omelet.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)I am able to get eggs from a co-worker that has a few chickens.
gtar100
(4,192 posts)The only means of continuing to eat them, and to eat their eggs, is to turn a blind eye to what's going on. Willful ignorance is the only way through it. Food should be a joyful, fun and culturally enriching part of life (no life without it, anyway!). But to knowingly participate in the utter cruelty of our factory farms destroys anything good we get from animals as food and makes us participants in a terrible human sickness.
Some may argue that eggs and meat are delicious and that it's none of my fucking business what they eat, but is the gross, disgusting cruelty that their desires fuel worth it? It happens minute by minute, things we would never allow in our own home, things we would label psychotic and psychopathic. Yet we allow it and encourage it by continuing to eat eggs and meat. Unless we just stop buying it and go for the alternatives.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)dhill926
(16,355 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)there is no reason to continue to support the widespread torture of those poor critters.
Looking at that photo, and imagining myself spending my entire existence on this planet in those cages, is just crushing.
mainer
(12,029 posts)Bright yellow yolk, fresh as can be. And the chickens are so free-range he has to go round them up from the trees and woods every evening to come back to the henhouse for their own safety.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Yet I am having difficulty sharing the eggs...few people want them.
Weird.
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)In part because, for the truly homeless, there is no way to store or cook food. But most clients have access to cooking facilities and there was still general rejection of anything that wasn't the most mainstream processed ready-to-eat food. So "yes" to: mac and cheese, hotdogs, pizza, white bread and "no" to: bok choy, wheat bread, venison, lettuce, ground turkey, sweet potatoes and the like.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)This is good news though.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)The binding quality either was too low, or non-existent.
Thankfully, there's another method that works quite well for binding and it's even cheaper: flax seeds.
The ratio for the equivalent of one egg is pretty simple and easy to remember:
1 Tbsp flax seeds
3 Tbsp boiling water
The boiling water pulls mucilage out of the seeds so it's like a seedy egg white, where most of the proteins reside in regular eggs anyway.
No, it won't replace eaten eggs (fried, scrambled, poach, soft/hard boiled) but it's absolutely perfect in baking!
MineralMan
(146,329 posts)I sort of think the acceptance of this will be low, indeed.
Perhaps for processed foods, where the presence of eggs may not even be known to the consumer, it might possibly work. For home use, however, people will keep cracking eggs as they always have. There is no direct substitute for eggs in that particular use.
They shouldn't call that stuff 'eggs', call it glop or something.
They will have to pry eggs out of my cold dead hands.
i'll raise my own chickens if it comes to that!
BethMomDem
(70 posts)Unfortunately since it's been headlined by the Bill and Melinda gates foundation that is highly unlikely.
packman
(16,296 posts)EASTER , what about Easter-and the coloring of the egg, and the hunting of the eggs hidden in the house, and after a week or so the wonderful egg salad. My God, man, next thing you know they'll be trying to make burgers out of vegetables and milk out of soy and bacon out of chicken meat.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)For those who have access (which means a few posters in some areas of Minnesota), I can't recommend these eggs highly enough:
http://www.locallylaid.com/whats-pasture-raised-anyway/
Of course, we'd have to stop manufacturing and consuming food on an industrial scale to eliminate demand for cheap eggs and cheap egg-alternatives. These eggs tho. They're marvelous.
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)End massive egg-laying factories and develop substitutes that work as well as eggs in some preparations.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)ReRe
(10,597 posts)... Really. Thanks, but no thanks. After Monsanto GMOs and all those nasty antibiotics given to the livestocks, Mother Nature is just not in the mood to mess with anymore privatizing attempts.
RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)solarhydrocan
(551 posts)One egg contains about six grams of protein, half of which is contained in the yolk. And about 212 mg of cholesterol, which is quite a lot.
There is ~9.4 grams of protein per 2.55" X 2.25" X 1" chunk of tofu, about the size of an egg, and no cholesterol.
This makes omelets that are comparable to or better than eggs in protein, taste and texture. Edit to add: I know because omelets made from eggs were one of my favourite foods.
Ghost in the Machine
(14,912 posts)faces, much less down their throats?? If that's your preference, I say go for it! Live and let live!
As for the fake eggs, all I can say is "fuck that!"... I can't even stand the powdered eggs some restaurants use in their breakfast buffets. I'm actually allergic to them, I believe. I noticed back in the mid to late 90's, when our family went out for breakfast every Sunday morning, there were two restaurants where, after eating the scrambled eggs from the buffet, within about 30 minutes I would become lethargic and could barely hold my eyes open. All I wanted to do was go back home and sleep. I also couldn't digest them, and suffered serious bouts of "sour stomach" that lasted 2-3 days, and I hated to even burp because it tasted, and smelled, like rotten eggs.
We used to go to different places each weekend, but it only was a choice of 5 or 6 places.. the two major chains, and the others were small, family owned/operated places. I never had a problem with their scrambled eggs though, so I started asking each place if they used real eggs or the powdered eggs. All the small family places used real eggs and the two major chains used the powdered. I don't know what it is in the powdered eggs, but I just can't eat them. I can eat real eggs all day long though, with no problem.
I live out in the country, and have been wanting to get a few laying hens for while now. I guess this just might be the kick I need to finally get off my ass and build that chicken coop. I've been thinking of getting a cow or two, also, but I'm within a 15 to 20 mile drive from two places that sell organic beef and pork. No hormones, no antibiotics and raised free range.
Like I said in the beginning, I have no problem with vegetarians/vegans... until they start preaching to me. Hell, I go to one restaurant now strictly for their all you can eat salad bar. I could almost live on salads, but I do like me a little meat too. I eat mostly boneless, skinless white meat chicken or turkey, some lean pork, but every once in a while I enjoy a good hamburger or steak.
Welcome to DU, solarhydrocan
Peace within, Peace between, Peace among...
Ghost
AnneD
(15,774 posts)ITA. I cannot eat the powdered shit. I function on the assumption that if I cannot see yolk, I am not eating a real egg. I pay extra for free range-when I don't get my brother's fresh eggs. Nothing better in the world than to have a few chickens (the girls as we say) in your own yard. They keep things bug free and give free fertilizer and eggs too boot. And talk about an alarm system!
An important point to remember, we survived as a species because we are omnivores. We have the teeth of omnivores.
I always tell folks that when it comes to food, I am a Buddhist:what ever fall into the begging bowl. But I do draw the line at GM foods.
RedCappedBandit
(5,514 posts)It is not a superior alternative, though.
It's also quite expensive. I eat 200 grams of protein a day. As far as I have found eggs are the cheapest and best.
global1
(25,270 posts)LuvNewcastle
(16,856 posts)Eggs are kind of gross, if you think about what it actually is. I wonder how they would make the fake eggs suitable for boiling, like you would use for your tuna salad. If the fake eggs have a comparable amount of protein, I think they would be a great alternative.
myrna minx
(22,772 posts)animals are subjected to.
sendero
(28,552 posts)... as long as you don't want a boiled egg, a poached egg, a fried egg or scrambled eggs.
The idea that this will eliminate laid eggs is ridiculous on its face.
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)are consumed is surprising. It would seem to mean that eggs are far less popular than chicken meat, especially when you consider the weight of an egg (about 2.5 oz) versus the 54 day old chicken (about 40 oz).
Perhaps the demand for eggs could be met by local farms and backyard chickens?