I thought I’d share an excerpt from my book, Modern Chinese Medicine Food Cures: A Personalized Approach. I chose my segment on egg substitutes because it’s always good to have options, whether you’re looking to avoid buying eggs or you simply ran out and want to bake a cake.

The following are suggestions for replacing eggs as an ingredient in your baking or cooking. The most common reasons people want alternative options to eggs is egg allergies, vegan diet, and concern about the welfare of factory farm chickens.

But now, egg prices is another motive. While Canada isn’t struggling as much as the U.S. for the cost of eggs, the increases are noticeable, and BC was hit the hardest with more than 80% of the 14.5 million chickens culled in Canada being in BC. As of February 2025, egg prices went up 11-12% from the previous year, and are expected to continue to climb. In the U.S., the spike in prices is astronomical, at 60, 80, or even 100%. This is largely due to the bird flu and how the U.S. runs its agribusinesses. Their megaproducers can have several million laying hens, while Canada’s egg farms have an average of 25,000 hens per farm. Still, that’s a lot of chickens, and bird flu is a highly contagious virus, so one sick bird can require a strong response.

I’m not a baker and I’m not vegan, but we really should be looking for ways to lessen our negative impact on our world. Though still rare, bird flu has crossed over to humans, and while I won’t step on too high a platform that points to us as the cause…we are the cause. So, let’s look for alternatives. You could buy your eggs only from small, local farms who treat their birds humanely. You might even have your own egg-laying chickens. And you could choose egg alternatives.

Egg Substitutes

An excerpt from Modern Chinese Medicine Food Cures: A Personalized Approach

If you have an allergy to eggs or are vegan, baking can be challenging. Eggs are important for:

1. Binding ingredients and giving food structure.
2. Adding moisture and flavour.
3. Helping foods rise or puff up as the eggs trap pockets of air that can expand during heating.

You can’t simply skip eggs without replacement when you’re baking, so while you can find commercial egg replacers in food stores, here are some simple alternatives you can use in place of eggs. Keep in mind that baking is chemistry, so there may be some trial and error to get the exact results you want.

Each mixture replaces the equivalent of 1 egg.

• Mix 1 Tbsp ground flax or chia seeds with 3 Tbsp water until it’s gelatinous and thick (can add a chewy or firm texture)
• ¼ cup of mashed or pureed banana, pumpkin, or avocado (note that it may change the flavour, but your baked good will be dense and moist)
• ¼ cup of yogurt (may work better if beaten before adding to other ingredients, as it can by heavy)
• ¼ cup of silken tofu (won’t alter the end flavour, but tends to make your baked good heavier and denser)
• ¼ cup of applesauce (but don’t add more than 1 cup to any recipe, as it can make it rubbery)
• ¼ cup of carbonated water (it obviously adds moisture, but the air bubbles in it also help your baked product to rise)
• Mix 1 tsp baking soda with 1 Tbsp vinegar (works best for recipes like cakes, quick breads, and brownies that to make them fluffier)
• 3 Tbsp of smooth nut butter (almond, cashew, or peanut butter—even though peanuts are technically legumes—can be used in some recipes, but it will change the flavour and is heavier)
• Mix 2 Tbsp arrowroot with 3 Tbsp water
• Dissolve 1 Tbsp unflavoured gelatin in 1 Tbsp cold water. Then mix in 2 Tbsp boiling water until the mixture is frothy (keep in mind that gelatin is an animal product, so not suitable for a vegan diet; it will also make for a stiffer end product)
• Mix 1 Tbsp agar-agar powder with 1 Tbsp water (a good vegan option, but it result in a stiffer end product)
• 3 Tbsp aquafaba (this is the liquid found in canned beans and it is an excellent substitute for egg whites)
• 1 Tbsp soy lecithin powder can replace 1 large egg yolk

How to Get More of My Book’s Food Recommendations

For those of you looking for tips on eating healthy, my book is not a vegetarian or vegan book, though I do include food recommendations for both. It does not recommend any one particular diet–you’ll find that’s my shortest chapter–or focus on all the things you cannot or should not eat. It does not require you to seek out hard-to-find or specialty foods.

It DOES help you understand nutrition from both a Western and an Eastern (TCM) perspective so you can better evaluate the foods you’re putting in your body. It DOES encourage you to explore what foods work best for you, and that can change with your activities, environment, age, and even the season. It DOES give you some simple recipes for specific symptoms and ailments. It DOES (hopefully!) make food a positive, interesting, and joyful experience.

You don’t need to be a Traditional Chinese Medicine professional or other healthcare provider to find use in this book. I wrote it so that my patients and the general public can get a taste of nutrition from a blended Western/TCM approach. Because food is powerful. What we choose to eat powers our bodies, impacts our health, and even affects the world at large.

To buy my book, you can head to your local bookstore and ask them to order you a copy, you can buy it online (see links on my website), or you can pick it up from me at my clinic when you come in for an appointment or contact me to arrange a pick up time.