This month, Norman and Jeannine weigh in on JUST Egg plant-based, egg-free scramble, available in the refrigerated section of all three stores.

N: Hey, how about that JUST Egg we tried?

J: Oh yeah — mung bean isolate in a plastic bottle.

N: …with a bunch of other stuff like natural flavors and potassium sorbate as preservative, even though it’s a refrigerated product.

J: It falls under the category of “plant-based technology”, like Beyond Burger and the Impossible Burger, which I have yet to try.

N: Me either. I avoid all these concocted vegan foods.

J: I can understand why, but I also enjoy the challenge of “veganizing” certain foods that I no longer eat, which is why I was interested in taste testing this product.

N: What did you think?

J: JUST OK. Get it?

N: What a comedian. How about specifics?

J: It cooked like a scrambled egg but didn’t taste like one. It did absorb the flavors I added— Earth Balance, salt, and pepper. I preferred using it as an egg replacement for the French toast I made, which was really good, but I couldn’t detect the JUST Egg taste, only the cinnamon, sugar, and maple syrup it was smothered in. What about you? I know how much you love mung beans!

N: One of my first favorite foods was mung bean sprouts in chow mein when my family went to Chinese restaurants. The JUST Egg texture was ok, although not as chewy as egg, and I found the flavor a little odd, not bad but a hint of something unfamiliar. It did carry the salt and Earth Balance flavor through a little. It’d probably be good with added vegetables.

J: I bet you never thought veganism would come to this.

N: That’s true. The explosion of plant-based foods kind of caught me by surprise. I’m glad to see there’s heightened interest in vegan food, but wasn’t expecting the options to come out of food technology labs, like Sunny Delight did.

J: Sunny D! That’s a blast from the past!

N: I’m an Elder Vegan.

J: Elder Vegans perhaps aren’t as open minded to the futuristic world of modern food.

N: Nor should we be. There’s something to be said for traditional diets such as those in Michael Pollan’s “In Defense of Food.”

J: I agree with you for the most part. JUST Egg is also really expensive ($7.99 for a 12-ounce container), and yields few servings. The price point is inaccessible for many people, which perpetuates the theory that veganism is only for the privileged.

N: Mung beans themselves are cheap, like most beans.

J: Right. Ideally, we eat these foods in their natural state or as close as possible. Frankly, I’d prefer a tofu scramble

N: Who’s Frank?

J: It ‘s an expression.

N: So, if you weren’t speaking frankly, what would you be speaking?

J: JUST gibberish.