Will Asia dine on plant-based eggs?

A Singapore-based firm has just hatched a new plant-based egg product. The company’s founder, Vinita Choolani, tells the Eco-Business Podcast why plant-based eggs will soon be a popular addition to nasi lemak and fried noodles dishes all over the region.

In early December, a new company hatched in Singapore called Float Foods.

The company is working on an alternative to chicken egg — called OnlyEg — made from legumes, and aims to tap a market for plant-based food growing by 12 per cent a year that is projected to be worth US$74 billion by 2027, with Asia the main engine for growth.

Float Foods claims OnlyEg is the first of its kind to achieve this level of likeness to a real chicken egg, and its egg yolk and egg white varieties are designed to go with Asian dishes such as nasi goreng and egg noodles.

Like the many plant-based options now entering the market, OnlyEg’s sustainability credentials are a key selling point; its carbon footprint is much lower than chicken eggs, no hormones or antibiotics are used, animal welfare is not a concern, and there’s less risk of animal-to-human disease transmission.

Vinita Choolani, Float Foods

Vinita Choolani, founder and CEO, Float Foods

Float Foods co-founder and CEO Vinita Choolani had the idea for OnlyEg during the lockdown period in Singapore, when eggs were disappearing from supermarket shelves amid a spate of panic buying, and there were concerns over food security in a country that imports most of its food.

Choolani joins the Eco-Business Podcast to talk about the market potential for OnlyEg, and whether Asia will develop an appetite for plant-based eggs in a region that consumes more chicken eggs than anywhere in the world.

Tune in as we talk about:

  • Launching a new product in a pandemic
  • The impact of Covid-19 on the plant-based food movement 
  • Is plant-based food a fad?
  • Bringing down the cost of plant-based
  • The future of food 

Did you find this article useful? Join the EB Circle!

Your support helps keep our journalism independent and our content free for everyone to read. Join our community here.

Most popular

leaf background pattern

Transforming Innovation for Sustainability Join the Ecosystem →