The Vegg: A Vegan Alternative for Eggs

We have tofurkey, chik’n, and many other faux meat products, and now vegetarians and vegans can add another imitation animal product to their shopping list: fake egg yolks. The Vegg is a vegan egg yolk made entirely from plants that is intended to look and taste like a real egg yolk.

The Vegg’s creator, Rocky Shepheard, came up with the idea of a vegan egg after reading an April Fool’s Day article about a vegan fried egg and becoming disappointed when he realized it was a prank. He set out to make his own, and two years later he had a product on his hands.

To cook a Vegg, which is sold in powder form, you must mix it with water and blend. It is made out of nutritional yeast, black salt, sodium alginate to thicken, and beta carotene for color. From there, the Vegg can be used as an egg substitute in omelets, french toast, custard, or whatever tickles your fancy.

It was formulated to look, smell, and taste just like an egg, so it makes a great replacement for any food that highlights eggs in its recipe. Or you can eat a complete fake egg by making “egg” whites out of tofu and eating the Vegg on top in all of its warm yolky goodness. This vegan-friendly egg yolk is different from the competition because unlike other egg replacers, it can be a standalone imitation egg product.

The Vegg retails at $7.99 per package and one package makes about 35 egg yolks. The company donates 10 percent of its profits to Compassion Over Killing – an organization dedicated to ending animal abuse in agriculture.

One big reason the Vegg exists, in fact, is to protest cruelty to animals in the food industry. As their website states, “The Vegg is all-vegan, which is great news for the more than 250 million egg-laying hens in the U.S., most of whom spend their lives intensively confined inside barren wire cages.” Shepheard himself is a committed vegan and activist who protests the treatment of animals bred for eating in the United States.

The Vegg is beginning to catch on in vegan circles, having sold 8,000 packages so far in health food stores and on their website. Shepheard is now working on a vegan egg patty to serve on breakfast sandwiches. Soon he will also get to work on creating a complete vegan fried egg with the yolk and an egg whites alternative.