It's a bit unusual that the scrambled eggs come out of the bag as a powder.

But mixed with water and fried with oil, it quickly takes on familiar forms.

Even the initially slightly sulphurous smell from the bag is gone.

But it still has to pass the most honest of all tests: the mouth of a child.

The three-year-old surprises with the comment: delicious!

The seven-year-old bites boldly.

And the ten-year-old finally deigns to taste it: Not bad, a bit like a potato dumpling.

Daniel Mohr

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

  • Follow I follow

The vegan egg from Munich-based Greenforce Future Food AG is said to taste like conventional scrambled eggs, but without having anything to do with eggs.

The German field bean is the most important ingredient, along with corn and peas.

"We've cracked the egg," announces Thomas Isermann proudly, founder of the company and head of the current 67 employees.

Twelve of them are food technologists and are regularly in the laboratory researching substitute foods for meat, eggs and milk.

It took 300 series of tests before the vegan egg is now available as a powder for 3.99 euros (equivalent to ten eggs) in the company's online shop and will soon be available in liquid form in the refrigerated shelves of supermarkets soon after Easter.

"The egg is incredibly complicated, we thought long and hard about which plant could achieve this gel-like consistency,"

says Iserman.

"Then we came up with the German field bean." The only competitor so far is the American company Just Egg, which relies on the mung bean.

If you are thinking about changing your diet, you will consume 70 percent fewer calories with the vegan egg, 80 percent less fat, no cholesterol at all, but more protein.

And it does not support the often problematic conditions of many laying hens and the high CO2 and water consumption during egg production.

More than 100 tons of vegan fresh products per month

Isermann is already selling its meat and fish substitute products such as "Vegan Nuggets" or "Vegan Fish Sticks" to 500,000 online customers and in 10,000 supermarkets such as Rewe, Edeka and Lidl.

He currently delivers more than 100 tons of fresh produce to supermarkets every month.

The other half of the business is online with mixable powders that have a longer shelf life and don't require energy-intensive refrigeration.

"I think it's now clear to most people that we can't expect our planet to eat meat every day in the long run," says Isermann.

1500 liters of water are needed for 150 grams of beef, 26 liters only for its substitute product.

He himself is not vegan, but promotes the conscious consumption of meat.

"Sunday roasts used to be something special."

Isermann studied sports and business administration and dealt a lot with nutrition.

"I rehabilitated a company that made its money from protein drinks for elite athletes.

You learn that the pea contains all the amino acids that the body needs,” says 46-year-old Isermann.

It was at this time that he met Achim Budemann, who had been researching the properties of plant-based foods for a number of years.