California coffee shop Rooted has ditched eggs from its menu and gone completely plant-based.
The move comes after the business decided to remove dairy products at the beginning of the year, replacing cow’s milk with plant-based alternatives.
The move was scary, claims the Walnut Creek business, as eggs are a key component of its best selling menu item, the Cashew Waffle. However, the welfare of chickens comes first, maintains Rooted. The company announced its decision in a heartfelt post on Instagram. “Since starting our business, we have cracked over 35,000 eggs for our best selling item: the beloved cashew waffle. Today we announce that we have cracked the last egg,” Rooted wrote.
“Regardless of the cost, we bought exclusively free range, organic, pasture raised eggs because we thought it was ethical and humane,” the shop continued. “[But] after learning more about the egg industry, which is shrouded in secrecy, misinformation, and marketing myths, we have discovered some disgusting truths regarding #factoryfarming, #debeaking, #batterycages, and the most gruesome #chickculling.”
The global egg industry slaughters around six billion male chicks each year and around fifty billion chickens. Whilst many believe eggs are more ethical when labeled “free range,” this is not necessarily the case in many instances. Up to twenty thousand chickens can be kept in just one barn, and yet their eggs can legally be marked as free range.
Some even argue, like Rooted, that taking an egg from a chicken is an anti-feminist act. “As an act of compassion, justice, and (dare we say) feminism, we’re ditching the byproduct of a hens menstruation,” wrote the company. “An egg belongs to the hen who made it. She worked really hard to make it. We didn’t.”
The good news is there are vegan egg alternatives on the market, such as liquid egg created by plant-based company Just. Made from the mung bean, Just’s egg-like product scrambles like a chicken egg would. It is also non-GMO, gluten-free, and a source of protein. Further, unlike a normal egg, the liquid egg contains no cholesterol, making it a healthier and more ethical choice for many businesses and consumers.
