Is the Vegan Mung Bean Substitute “Just Egg” Good?
Vegan products that seek to replicate the flavor and texture of the Real Thing have a moment, and it looks like this moment could stretch out for a minute or even an hour. (I think that’s a good thing.) And while there are many ways to mimic the structural roles eggs play in cooking and baking, Just Egg is the first product to offer vegans the simple pleasure of scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Of course there are tofu scrambles, but they taste like tofu, not eggs. They also look like tofu, smell like tofu, and feel like tofu in your mouth. Just Egg aims to convince you that you are eating eggs, and it almost succeeds. The pale yellow liquid product is poured from an opaque bottle (which must be shaken first to avoid separation) and turns into a pile of protein that looks exactly like scrambled eggs.
The Just Egg also moves like an omelet on the fork and in the mouth (at least while it’s hot). However, it doesn’t taste like scrambled eggs. To be honest, I didn’t expect Just Egg to taste like Just Like Eggs, but I was surprised how similar it was to anything other than eggs. The most successful types of artificial meats and cheeses are those that have no particular flavor at all. If they can get the texture right and just don’t have the strong flavor of something else, that’s usually enough to convince your brain that you’re eating a burger , sausage, or grilled cheese , especially if there are a lot of toppings and sauces involved, or if you’re drunk.
But Just Egg has a strong flavor that I don’t associate with eggs. I thought I tried pea protein, which is often found in non-dairy cheese substitutes, but it was actually mung bean protein, and damn it, I was embarrassed that I made that mistake. It tasted good, only vegetable and piquant, but it didn’t have the sweetness of gruel and yolk, and to be honest, it all fucked my brains out. My senses were at war. My eyes saw eggs. Teeth groped for eggs. But my tongue tasted like masha. I was sitting at a table for one at Strange Valley Diner and I didn’t like it.
Plus, if you were hoping to order an omelet from the Uncanny Valley diner, I’m afraid you may have come to the wrong place. The Just Egg is designed to be whipped, which means it needs to be moved while cooking. When I left the skillet without flinching, it started to grab on the sides but then bubble like hell in the middle, creating a specky texture at the bottom of the omelet that stuck to my (buttered, non-stick) skillet like crazy. (Though I may have been impatient; there is an omelet recipe on the Just Egg website and they look pretty.)
This is not to say that this is a bad vegan product. If you’ve been a vegan for a while and forgot what an egg tasted like – or just never cared about it – you’ll be extremely happy with Just Egg, especially if you want a texturally believable remedy for Daiya scraps and fake bacon nuggets. … My love of perfect grappling makes me clearly not the target audience for Just Egg, but my vegan friends who tried it really love it and I’m happy for them. Perhaps one day there will be an egg substitute that will appeal to lovers of all dietary philosophies. This day is not today, but Just Egg gives the impression that it is not far off.