Posted on 03/15/2013 10:55:15 AM PDT by Red Badger
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A San Francisco food producer wants to make you an omelet without breaking any eggs – and they may be able to do it with one key ingredient they make in a lab – no chicken required.
From their Mission District laboratory, Hampton Creek Foods and CEO Josh Tetrick are taking aim at the egg farming industry.
“We just cannot go on eating like we all are right now with our food system,” Tetrick said. “It’s just unsustainable.”
Many Bay Area farms let chickens roam the pastures, but the Humane Society says more than 90% of the country’s egg-laying hens are kept in cramped conditions. Tetrick takes issue with the restrictive quarters, with the resources needed to feed the chickens, and the diseases they may catch and spread to humans.
“We just kind of look at that and say ‘this is absurd,’” Tetrick said emphatically. “Our product is just better.”
That’s right – Tetrick claims Hampton Creek has improved on the egg. They call their product “Beyond Eggs.”
“It’s made up of a variety of plants, including peas. We use different gums. We use a host of different plant-based protein sources,” Tetrick explained.
It’s hard to believe a blend of plants can imitate not only the taste of an egg, but the ability to whip up into foam like an egg, or coagulate into gel like an egg, but Tetrick said his team is clever about selecting plants that not only replicate, but surpass the egg in food products.
Hampton Creek Foods is already baking Beyond Eggs into cookies and mixing it into mayo. Their next mission is to recreate that taste and texture into dishes like scrambled eggs and even omelets.
Former Top Chef contestant Chris Jones is Hampton Creek’s Director of Culinary Innovation. On the day of our visit, he was seated close to the floor, working with a giant mixer to produce a batch of mayonnaise using Beyond Eggs.
“An egg is such a miraculous thing, and all the culinarians understand what it really does in a recipe,” Jones said with the mixer whirring beside him. “So working with vegetable products, all natural products, to try to make what an egg does is challenging.”
Jones was excited about the idea of blending the expertise of the chef with the skill of the scientist.
“We can make a difference,” he remarked. “We can do something special besides making wonderful food. Let’s take our knowledge and pour it into doing something for the first time.”
Tetrick said Hampton Creek is about three months away from getting Beyond Eggs into baked goods made by two top food companies that will replace the “farmed” egg in some products. We asked him what he would say to egg farmers who might find themselves out of work.
“Change happens,” he replied. “But when change happens, jobs are created. We’re really interested in the company in engaging with farmers.”
Unlike the egg, Beyond Eggs are cholesterol free. It’s likely you’ll be able to buy them in the grocery store within a month, and according to Tetrick, you’ll pay about 15% less than regular non-organic eggs.
So for these fake eggs, I propose the name Feggs.
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they say these things and nobody calls them on it.
when we say something can’t go on, they demand proof and when we show it they berate the evidence.
ex. our current spending. obama just says no problem here. but larger than 16 ounce sodas, that is unsustainable.
Cholesterol free, eh? Yeah, because ingesting cholesterol has been proven to increase blood serum levels of cholesterol. Or not. Who cares. I’ll keep buying farm fresh eggs from my local farmers for $5 / dozen.
Build a double wall completely around SF.
Let them survive on their ‘sustainable and affordable egg alterhantve’.
let people keep a couple of hens in their backyards, then.
You’ll also reduce food waste considerably.
My chickens are free ranged and eat an all natural diet. All the eggs are brown eggs. The yoke is bright orange, sits up high and they are always fresh.
I have more eggs than we can use, so we also take them to the food bank and my wife sells them to her friends for $3.50 per dozen. My dog gets the broken eggs... fresh only.
Even if I lived on a boat, I think I would raise 2 or 3 hens for their eggs... considering what you get, it’s easy and cheap.
I’m betting Mr Tetrick believes 0bama when he says that our current debt and deficit spending is sustainable, though.
I heard they found detectable amounts of horsemeat in Soylent Green.
I'm all for farm fresh but....$5 a dozen? That's ridiculous.
I ain’t eating nothing grown out of a petri dish from San Francisco.
Why?
Eggs do all of that already and they are cheaper and better for you.
I see stupid people.
I just walked in from my egg ladies’ . Brown and green eggs, $3/dozen. Fresh! Wonderful.
“unsustainable”?
Most people out here keep free-range chickens-no egg shortage. Sorry to hear that San Fran has a shortage of chickens-and brains...
“Sustainable, Affordable Egg Alternative”
If an item which has self-replicating capability can’t be called “Sustainable” then nothing can. Especially when it can collect all the needed raw materials just by walking around and pecking the ground. A few clucks thrown in, now & then, for good measure.
The original product & process seems to have worked just fine for at least the entirety of human history.
Or even notes that perhaps he has more than a little self-interest in saying so, seeing as how he is trying to market a replacement product. Of course if he was part of "Big (fill in the name of whatever industry the left is currently freaking about)" they'd be on it like white on rice.
Chickens are one of the most “sustainable” livestock in existance.
They turn food scrap waste into eggs and meat, they can reproduce, they provide aeration and fertilization to the ground, they control pests - what’s not to like? What’s not sustainable?
If only the cities and HOAs didn’t have sticks up their collective keisters.
A dozen fresh free-range eggs here are $1.50-$2.50, or barter, and available from several neighbors. I can also trade a loaf of my homebaked bread and some fresh-cut herbs for a dozen.
Yeah, most of the local purveyors are $4/dozen here in the treasure valley. This farmer is the one I buy my lamb from. I want her to be around 10 years from now, so I support her operation how I can. She spots me free lamb bacon, so I call it a wash :)
Yep, toast and egg yolk is better than peanut butter and chocolate.
Wow! Fresh eggs for $3/dozen. That’s awesome.
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