I subscribe to many YouTubers, most of which consist of ASMR channels and channels dedicated to vegan/vegetarian cooking. Recently, one of my favorite YouTubers (East Meets Kitchen, she is a very small channel but her videos are professionally edited and she is one of my favorites!) had made a video titled “MAKING AQUAFABA EGGS!! - VEGAN TIP!” In the video, she made vegan eggs out of chickpea water! What got me at the end was a short clip of her whipping the “eggs” into egg whites; I was intrigued and impressed! Look at that, a vegan take on an animal byproduct I thought could never be replaced without the use of artificial ingredients! I thought to myself, “I wonder who invented this, how did they come up with this idea?” When we soak beans, or even open a can of beans, we typically throw the bean water out. Who needs it, what could we possibly use it for? You can’t use it as a soup base, or a base for a sauce, or even put it into a health shake. The last thing I expected from such a useless component, is a substitute for a kitchen staple! This was an innovation if I had ever seen one.

It takes passion to innovate. Dedication is necessary if anyone wants to truly contribute and revolutionize a field or area. It is something to appreciate when one sees a truly ambitious individual trying to make the next big thing. That’s because there are numerous failures on the path to innovation, and failures, as we all know, can discourage us. Failure after failure eventually takes its toll on the person accumulating them; some people give up, others get angry and disregard the entire field as a sham not worth spending time and energy on. A person that can take all of that, even if they don’t contribute a major innovation, should be looked up to. “Never give up” is easier said than done, and many people can only say it.

The Aquafaba eggs invention is appreciable despite it being a simple cooking ingredient. The person responsible for this new ingredient is an innovator in the area of vegan cooking; and innovators, as well as innovations, of all kinds make an impact.