In San Francisco, even the eggs are high-tech. Just, a food-tech start-up launched in 2011, created a software program to scour more than 350,000 plants for proteins, nutrients and properties that make them good to cook and eat. After four years, it discovered how to make eggless scrambled eggs from mung beans.
I recently visited Just’s headquarters in the Mission district with Jay Timmons, the chief executive of the US National Association of Manufacturers. He was on a state-by-state tour to drum up support for American “makers”.
The large hangar where the company (formerly known as Hampton Creek) is based used to be inhabited by Disney Pixar. Before that, it was home to chocolate makers and, earlier, a bread factory. Now it is filled with white-coated PhDs in plant biochemistry, engineers and floppy-haired chefs, all trying to create food that is better for the planet and our bodies, and tastes good too.