ova

[arguchik]

so i just hard-boiled a baker's dozen of eggs, and ate 2 of them. they're just your basic "organic, free-range" eggs. i was just wondering why egg companies (and presumably consumers) fetishize the "vegetarian feed" and "access to the outdoors" (which is not the same as the mostly outdoor life the hens would probably prefer, i would like to point out) of their egg-laying hens. for that matter, i would like to know why hens are kept in huge barns to begin with, where they need all kinds of additives in their food to keep them healthy enough to lay eggs...yeah, many of you have probably seen the ALF videos shot in large-scale industrial commercial egg production facilities. (so-called "organic, free-range" farms are not much better than your basic industrial egg farm, either...)

the thing is, hens are about the easiest animal in the world to raise, it seems to me. their natural diet is bugs and grubs, along with seeds and grass and whatever else they can forage (i.e. they are not vegetarians). when they are allowed to forage, they will take care of their own feathers, and they stay quite healthy (i'm not exactly prepared to defend this statement with evidence, but it seems plausible to me that the avian flu epidemic is a product of overcrowding in the modern agricultural context). of their own accord, they will return to their roosting spot at night.

so i'm just curious...i think many people are uncomfortable with the stark reality that is the industrial egg production facility--with the bleak lives that hens lead in such facilities, the overcrowding, the noise, the smell, the stress, the filth.... what is it about the words "all vegetarian feed with flaxseed!" or "access to the outdoors," or "high in omega-3's," (from all that flaxseed of course) that assuages a buyer's discomfort (liberal guilt)?*** this is a serious question...i still buy and eat eggs--and i always get the organic free-range ones--so i'm not moralizing or claiming a higher ground here, i'm just verbally scratching my head.

***incidentally, eggs from hens allowed to scratch out their natural diet of the aforementioned bugs, grubs, etc., are also high in omega-3 fatty acids; they are full of all kinds of good-for-you stuff that doesn't require the addition of an expensive commodity like flaxseed--seriously, have you priced that stuff???--to the hens' diet.

Comments

[malafrena.livejournal.com]

Jumping into this discussion a bit late . . . I buy organic eggs (not free range, since I know that's a total lie) because I assume that organically fed hens have a slightly better life. Local would be even better, but I have no clue as to how to get it. Another book for thought: Slow is Beautiful. I think that's the one that talked about local and sustainable farming.

Oliver is damn near a vegetarian, and that's probably because I tried to get our whole family to go vegetarian before I gave up (I was pregnant and also iron-deficient at the time, and eating vegetarian made me a nervous wreck). He asks tough questions.

Q: But why do we eat dead animals?
A: Because we're hungry.

That, in a nutshell, is where I'm at. :)

[arguchik.livejournal.com]

i know you can get locally farmed eggs at the little dairy down at the market, but it's kind of a pain to go down to the market to buy groceries of any kind. the little dairy has a bunch of different kinds of eggs, though--in addition to different varieties of chicken eggs, you can get duck eggs and quail eggs. probably goose, too.

i've had ups and downs, ons and offs with the vegetarianism. i have been a vegetarian, and i may be again, but i'm not now, for similar reasons (i'm not pregnant, but i think i was a little iron deficient, and probably deficient in a couple of other things too. all i know is that i was craving meat--oddly, when i crave meat, it is usually dark turkey meat--and that i started to feel better when i caved to the craving and ate some.