“I love making buckwheat crepes with ham, Parmesan cheese, and a fried egg on top. It’s my go-to breakfast. ~ Taylor Swift

“Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.” ~ Aesop

“In addition to consumer demand, bird flu outbreaks have reduced egg supply, impacting egg prices.” ~ The Motley Fool

“Birds’ eggs can bring out the worst in people. In the UK, for example,  the avaricious collecting of birds’ eggs more than 60 years ago threatened or hastened local extinctions of rare raptors and the endangered red-backed shrike Lanius collurio, whose beautifully marked eggs seemed irresistible to collectors.” ~ American Ornithological Society

Like millions of people worldwide, I love eggs – to eat, that is, as opposed to collecting, decorating or using in crafts.

For most of my life, my family, friends, acquaintances, etc., and I have enjoyed eating eggs whether they have been boiled (soft and hard), scrambled, poached, fried (over easy/medium/well), deviled, quiche (with or without a crust), baked, and Eggs Benedict, or in a frittata, omelet or soufflé.

And we all, variously, have used eggs in baking: cakes, cookies, muffins, meringues (hard and soft), some pie crusts, and egg washes,  and cooking:  in potato salad, pasta carbonara,  Caesar salad dressing, and egg drop soup, for some examples.

History

Birds and their eggs have been on our planet for millions of years before we humans evolved on it. And those amazing eggs come in various sizes and colors, depending on the species. According to some historical accounts, humans and other critters have been eating eggs for several millennia.  And not just chicken eggs (white, brown or greenish/blueish), but also eggs from the following birds that have enjoyed cuisine popularity over the centuries (to name just a few):

• Ostrich – (world’s largest bird that lays the world’s largest egg — not to be confused with the kinds of large figurative eggs laid by some humans – lol)
• Rhea (native of South America, related to the ostrich, large yellow eggshell)
• Emu (native of Australia, related to the ostrich and rhea, large egg, teal to emerald green)
• Quail – (tiny, cream and brown speckled eggs, about a third the size of a chicken egg)
• Duck (larger than a chicken egg, white, greenish, dark gray shells)
• Goose (white egg about twice the size of a chicken egg)
• Pheasant (eggs vary from dark and light brown, olive and blue and are similar in size to duck eggs)
• Guinea Hen (light brown or cream eggs with some speckled, slightly smaller than a chicken egg)

Egg farming has been around in our nation for centuries, but the 20th century ushered in commercial egg production, which you can read about in this article by The American Egg Board.

Etiquette

Generally speaking, you may eat scrambled, fried and poached eggs, as well as quiche, omelets, Eggs Benedict and frittatas with your knife and fork, especially if any of the preceding is served on toast. Use your napkin frequently and properly.

When dining on a soft-boiled egg in an egg cup (with the pointed end of the egg in the bottom of the egg cup), use your spoon to gently tap the top of the egg to break the shell. If the egg is perfectly cooked, the top should come off like a little door on a hinge. There may be a bit of the white in it, so just place the shell and any bits on your plate beneath the egg cup, then eat the egg with your spoon. Some prefer to use their knife to break the shell, but I think using a spoon is far more elegant and practical. In more formal settings, little sticks of toast, called toast soldiers, or triangular toast points are served with a soft-boiled egg for the purpose of dipping, so feel free to dip away, delicately. You may use a toast or a piece of roll to sop up the egg yolk in a fried or poached egg, as well– just a little bit at a time to be neat — and pop it in your mouth. When in polite company, eat slowly. Take small sips of coffee, tea or water between bites.

Etiquette also applies (in my book, at least) to how we treat other animals on the planet, especially applying humane treatment to food animals.

Ethics & Empathy

Eggs are certainly tasty and filled with vitamins and protein and the shell is rich in calcium; their original use is meant to keep unborn chicks safe and healthy until they are hatched. An unfertilized egg has all those good things for other animals to ingest. We humans, of course, figured out how to harness the egg on a grand scale for our own use.

According to some reports, the original wild chicken might have laid less than 20 eggs per year, but with modern technologies — and massive demand — most chickens today are hatched in untold numbers and each is forced to lay hundreds of eggs each year, which shortens their productivity to about 18 months, when in the U.K. they are slaughtered; in the U.S. chickens are kept longer and forced to molt, which is seen by some as additional cruelty. We should consider that when dining on eggs, and chicken.

As someone who has been a vegetarian off and on for decades and who appreciates and empathizes with wildlife, pets and food animals, I try to purchase eggs that bear the “Certified Humane” insignia, and if I don’t see them in a particular store I ask store management to please carry them and encourage other shoppers to do the same thing. The “Certified Humane” label also applies to other animal products.

It is important to understand egg carton labels because they can be deceiving; here is a Business Insider article that provides insight into those labels, many of which are simply marketing  strategies and are often misleading.  You might be surprised to learn that chickens are not vegetarians; they are omnivores, and an all-vegetarian diet is not a healthy one for them. “Cage-free” and “free-range” can also be deceiving. It would take all of my time to investigate each and every egg brand, so my default is the “Certified Humane” label, because that certification covers all the bases. Such eggs are more expensive, but if you can afford it I think the extra cost is worth supporting the humane treatment of chickens — and other animals — that give their lives to put food on our tables.

That is the reason my husband and I have donated to Farm Sanctuary, and applaud Jon and Tracey Stewart for their outstanding efforts on behalf of farm animals.

Uh, Oh

There are some down sides to eggs, of which we should be aware:

• Raw eggs can be dangerous because they can carry salmonella, which can be harmful to our health. Traditional recipes such as Eggs Benedict and Caesar salad dressing use raw eggs, as does egg drop soup, but apparently in the latter the egg is cooked, or almost cooked, when it is added to the soup mixture. But do your homework on the safety issues and know that there are modern recipes for EB and CSD that do not require raw eggs. Another egg dish with which to use caution is sous-vide egg bites; from what I can gather this is a dish for highly-skilled or professional chefs only as it can be tricky and there are some food safety issues.
• Egg yolks contain a lot of cholesterol. All my life I have eaten eggs — I adore eggs. I was raised by a mother who was also a sous chef and pastry chef who worked at a very fancy private club and also had her own catering business. Needless to say, she used eggs in her cooking and baking, and so we ate a lot of eggs and cuisine that contained eggs. Thus, most of my life I have had a cholesterol problem! While many reports said that eggs, while they contain cholesterol do not raise cholesterol, that was not true for me. My current doctor, who treats athletes who eat a lot of eggs for quick, easy and (previously) cheap  protein and often have elevated cholesterol levels, convinced me to give up eggs altogether because merely cutting back was not helping. I gave up eggs and my cholesterol plummeted. So no more eggs for me, or at least no more egg yolks. I miss them but improved health is a good tradeoff.
• Animal cruelty in our mass-production society has prompted many people to become vegetarians. If you’re not ready for that, do consider buying the previously-mentioned Certified Humane products and contacting the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to urge extending the Animal Welfare Act to include food animals on the federal level, especially those raised in factories.
• Egg prices of late have been a major source of concern and discontent. Like gas prices, egg prices have been difficult to impossible to control. Over the past few years, the cost of eggs has embodied the alarm over inflated supermarket prices. I’ve tried to unscramble (sorry) all the components that have driven egg prices up and down and up again over the past few years, so here goes:

–  As the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up in 2020 and many food-service businesses shut down, the oversupply of eggs kept prices low for a while, until consumers panicked and began cleaning supermarket shelves of many items, including eggs, toilet paper, sanitizing wipes, and more, driving prices up. This has been termed the “eggs on rollercoaster” by one publication.

–  Labor shortages and supply-chain snarls followed, which kept egg prices high.

– Another pandemic — the avian flu virus – swept through wild flocks and domestic poultry flocks across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia in the autumn of 2020 , causing a drastic decrease in egg production and sent prices soaring.

– Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, causing those two mega wheat producers to decrease exports of grain, which poultry require to produce eggs. As well, the gas embargo against Russia caused fuel costs to rise for chicken producers and further disrupted the supply chain.  Consumer demand globally (including Russia) for eggs did not decrease, and as we know the law of supply-demand contributes to determining market prices. 

– In mid-2023, egg prices dropped because the avian flu pandemic wound down and consumer demand dropped slightly.  

– But here we are again, in 2024, with egg prices rising again. The cause? Outbreaks of the avian flu once again is reducing poultry flocks and increasing egg prices globally.

Easter Eggs, Etc.

In the early spring season many enjoy coloring the beloved Easter Egg, our country celebrates with the annual White House Easter Egg Roll (as do many local communities), and teachers come up with clever ideas for faux eggs.

Do enjoy Easter eggs, but do not give live chicks, ducklings or bunnies, etc., as gifts for Easter — or any time. Such baby animals require a lot of work, can make a big mess, and often die for lack of proper care and attention, which can be traumatizing for children. Moreover, such little creatures often come with diseases that are passed on to you and your kids. And in many cases, if the animals live long enough, they are abandoned or turned outside to fend for themselves, which they cannot. So, please stick to chocolate bunnies, marshmallow peeps and stuffed animals, and everyone will be the happier for it!

Now that you’ve learned more about eggs than you might ever have wanted to know – lol –  please remark in the Comments section anything I might have missed!

Meanwhile, my very best wishes for an eggscellent and Hoppy Easter!

Until next time,

Jeanne

Disclaimer: For “how to” recipes and techniques for the various ways we use eggs, and color them, as well as a lot of other information, click on the links; but note that these links to certain sites are for ideas only. While I like the information contained in them, I have found that I always have to do my own research, testing and experimentation.