Last Friday I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle (no
link, so trust me on this one) that was about a company who had invented a
replacement for the egg. The title of the article implied that these
folks had found a way to make eggs without the chicken.
Being the curious
person I am, and from the mid-west where I visited many different farms over
the years, I wanted to know more about this break through product.
After the first
couple of catch lines in the article, it tells the real story about a company
who has created nothing more than an egg substitute. But the article
did say that the company believed that their product would reduce the
number of real eggs needed, therefore freeing millions of chickens from
bondage. You know, freeing chickens from being all cooped up in, you
know, CHICKEN COOPS.....
Anyway, I
think we already have such a product for sale today, or maybe not, as I eat the
real things, not the substitute. Well, I probably eat the substitute when
it is used in a recipe of a prepared food that I might buy. But
I was happy to see that the egg, the one that comes from chickens, is still the
gold standard.
But after I
finished reading, I wondered if the real intent of the article, which was
obviously a well placed advertisement for the egg substitute, was to have
people really believe that, one, a chicken actually cares about his/her
lifestyle, and two, that just by reading the headline, the reader might believe
the company created a real egg, shell, yolk, white and all. I said to
myself, "Surely not, no one is that ill informed." Then it hit
me. This article was aimed at those who really, truly believe,
there is a big monetary difference between a
product labeled "organic" and one that is not. You
see these folks seem to believe anything that comes from farmers that have
modernized their operations to include pesticides, fertilizers, and
mass food production systems are making food that will kill them. Hence,
they want foods grown using the old style farming, where bugs eat the crop, you
get the leftovers, use cow-@#*& for fertilizer, and sell it as
organic. And raise your cows and chickens on the open range, so they will
be happy, right up to the point they are slaughtered for human consumption.
As I have stated
in other post, those that buy "organic" are the farmers/growers best
friend. Just look at the produce at the local HEB, and see the
difference in the outward appearance of the fruits
and vegetables that are labeled organic and not. I know, I
know, the organic fruits and vegetables say they were not subject to
pesticide and chemical fertilizer use during growing, blah, blah, blah.
Maybe you will get lucky and get to eat a worm in your apple. Then
you will have really experienced the organic revolution. The truth
is, that the pesticides used make the fruits and vegetables less
expensive and at no loss in nutritional values, or safety. What,
you don't wash your organic vegetables or fruit...you know what they
use for fertilizer?
Anyway, give me a
real egg, with a real shell, and cook it in bacon grease, over hard please.
And that, along with the bacon used to make the bacon grease, and some
toast and jelly is a real breakfast my friends.
PS, if you are
still worried about the chickens, and their feelings, go visit a chicken
processing plant, or a mid-west farmer who has decided to cull his chicken
heard of a couple of hens for a family get together. You know how they kill
a chicken on the farm? They wring its neck until the head pops off.
Then they wait for the chicken to quit running around, ah, like a chicken
with its head cut off, and then pluck (worst smell ever) it, and cook it.
I would bet the
cooped up hen would tell the soon to be de-headed "range" chicken,
"I'll stick to layin eggs, you go ahead and enjoy your romp around the
yard. Just beware of family picnics."
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