the egg post...

our little family had a great trek out to the ferry building farmer's market today. we arrived early in an attempt to beat the heat and get breakfast. san francisco was 80 degrees by 9 am--a true rarity in the city. anyhow, we picked up our usual goods: peaches, nectarines, grapes, zucchini, a couple of cheeses, salad greens, whole wheat flour. all that was left on the list was bread and eggs. we opted against bread this week--i'll be baking. that left the eggs. 

here's the thing about eggs. i've been obsessing over the past few weeks. my main goal is to purchase eggs from humanely-raised chickens. i would like these eggs to be organic. in my mind, humanely raised is pretty much what we've got going on in our backyard--the hens run around at their leisure, give themselves dust baths, peck for bugs, have 27/7 access to food & water. they are generally not cooped against their will. but these chickens are not eating 100% organic feed. so technically, their eggs are not organic. and we're only getting 1 egg a day at this point--certainly not enough to keep up with our breakfasts. 

besides getting new chickens who will have a greater output, here are my other options as i see them:

get eggs at the mainstream grocery store. okay, this is not really an option. we call these "guilt eggs" in our house--photos of chickens in battery cages are enough to steer me off of this course for good. 

get eggs at trader joes or other upscale grocery store. every magazine article i've ever read on the subject of humanely raised eggs states that terms like "cage-free," "humanely-raised" and "free-range" are unregulated. therefore, these terms mean very little. read on to see why. 

get the eggs at my local farmer's market (or any farmer's market in the area, most likely). here, egg containers sport all of the jargon i'm looking for--just like at the fancier supermarkets and trader joe's. it sounds so good--i've got visions in my head of happy chickens clucking all around some farm somewhere, out in the open, laying eggs in little nesting boxes filled with fresh straw.... 

then i actually ask the vendor about how the chickens are raised. and it's a whole 'nother story. these chickens don't have access to the outdoors. they don't live in cages, but they do spend their entire lives inside, surrounded by thousands of other birds. because this close proximity is stressful, the chickens are de-beaked in order to keep them from pecking each other to death. the egg guy told me that de-beaking is no big deal--and better than "going out every day to count the dead birds." when i told him that my chickens don't peck at each other (much) he informed me that they probably do, it just happens when i'm not looking. i assured him that my chickens couldn't be bothered with the pecking that arises from frustration and stress--they're too busy rooting through my flowerbeds. they're happy chickens. and they have all their feathers, which is (i think) a sure sign that pecking is kept at a minimum. 

anyway, he continued to inform me that they don't take the WHOLE beak off, just part of it. so that the chicken can still, you know, eat. he equated it to cutting a fingernail--well, a bit of googling proves that train of thought wrong. there'd be no need to chop & cauterize simultaneously if beaks were like fingernails, as fingernails don't bleed. 

the egg guy told me that if i were raising factory chickens, i would de-beak too. that it was better than the alternative. well, maybe that's the case. but i wouldn't raise factory chickens. that's the whole point--why am i still supporting them with my food dollars? 

my other option is to buy eggs from pasture-raised hens. birds treated similarity to my own, differences stemming only from the fact that they are raised in larger flocks. unfortunately, these eggs sell for $7-$8/dozen. which is an expense that i just can't justify on a regular basis (we go through about 2 dozen eggs per week, give or take a few). 

by the way, the egg guy told me that eggs from pasture-raised hens, though beautiful in color and flavor, are more susceptible to salmonella contamination, since the chickens are feeding off of the same land where rats and mice can live. don't know if there's truth to this or not--he actually seemed pretty forthcoming about his own hen-raising practices, so it's not like i can write him off completely. 

jeremy and i have thinking to do. right now we're close to shoving the whole debate aside and adding some new chickens back into our flock. raising hens is fun and all, but it is a definite added responsibility as well. if getting new girls weren't an option, however, i have to say that the egg guy's eggs seem like the most reasonable alternative, even though it doesn't seem the chickens are treated all that humanely--i'd have to ask him more about how the chickens are culled and at what age. i'm sure these questions have answers that i don't want to hear. 

the final alternative is to cut back on our egg consumption. just like everything else--eating less of something that's better and appreciating it more. 

thoughts? 

 

kinda-sorta-veggie-vegan eating...

i took a long drive up to sacramento over the weekend, and had the pleasure of listening to a radio interview with mark bittman, new york times columnist and author of "food matters." he had alot to say on the issue of eating responsibly as far as the environment is concerned, and since i found them so interesting, i thought that i'd share.

bittman stated in his interview that 18% of greenhouse gasses arise from raising livestock--a sizeable amount, i actually thought it was much higher but i guess that doesn't matter. anyway, he also stated that the average non-vegetarian/vegan american eats 1/2 pounds of meat per day, along with 1 1/2 pounds of animal products (milk, cheese, eggs, etc.). that equates to 2 pounds of food daily, which doesn't leave much room for fruits, veggies, grains and beans.

bittman advocates changing this "over-consumption" of animal products, but not by cutting them out altogether. rather, he advises breaking the day into segments, stating that he often eats a vegan breakfast and lunch, and then a normal (carnivorous) dinner.

all of this really struck home for me, as i have had food on my mind a lot lately. if you read yesterday's post, then you are aware that i have challenged myself to get by on $100/week for groceries and gas--not an easy accomplishment for someone who is also trying to eat as organically as possible. in addition to all of this, i have also been thinking a lot about how to raise a new little eating machine. part of me really wants to try raising lucy as a vegetarian, while part of me believes that humans (especially those of us who are rapidly developing) are intended to eat meat. i really felt that my dilemma was an all-or-nothing issue, and wasn't quite sure how to proceed.

bittman's argument falls perfectly in place on the how-to-eat spectrum, without being extreme at either endpoint. i understand that our little family (lucy included) can change how we approach our consumption habits. we've never been meat-every-night people, but milk, eggs and cheese certainly pass through our fridge door quite freely. and, for the record, i'm not saying that i want to cut these things out altogether, or even cut back on them drastically. what i want is to start really taking note of the animal products that we consume, and figure if that amount really seems right in the bigger picture.

my budget has me taking more care about what i buy--each dollar that i spend seems like a small message to the food industry, as well as a marker for who i am and what i believe in--cage free eggs, hormone-free meats, beer from local breweries instead of stuff trucked in from other countries.

bittman recommends "whittling down" the consumption of animal products by eating vegan once per day. this is not unlike the pb&j pledge that i posted about a while back. for me, i think it's time to revisit that idea, and make a commitment to giving it a go. at this point, i think lunch would be the easiest meal to implement a change.

i'll try it for a week and get back to ya.

what we're eating...

a bit time has passed since i last posted anything food-related, so i thought i'd give a little update, as well as pass on some ideas that i find interesting. 

first off, after an entire summer of eating local produce only, i am sad to say that we have fallen way off track. i blame lucy entirely. she started on solids and felt that she wouldn't be a real baby unless she got a taste of her first banana. so down to trader joe's we went, and picked one up along with the rest of the weeks groceries. that single banana turned out to be my downfall, as lucy rather liked it, and the next time i happened by the grocery store, i not only bought a couple more bananas, but a bag of spinach (which i needed to make soup) that i couldn't have gotten until our next farmer's market, which was still several days away.  well, the next time i hit the grocery store it was for more bananas, and suddenly all hell broke loose and wouldn't you know it, your loyal blogger was walking around with a shopping cart full of organic, yet very non-local produce.  my most embarrassing purchase? garlic imported from mexico. i happen to live less than 2 hours away from gilroy, which is the garlic capital of the world. and here i am mincing mexican garlic for pizza. 

shame on me. 

well, tonight i did go grocery shopping. i got those darn bananas and some organic salad mix for dinner tonight, but held off on all other produce purchases. i am dragging myself down to the farmer's market tomorrow, rain or shine. (let's hope for more sunshine though... it was a balmy 74 degrees here today!). 

so there's that. 

and here's the other topic on my mind: organics. 

it should be noted that i have put myself on a "loose" weekly budget of $100 for food and gas. i say "loose" because, well, it's loose. if i need to go over, i do. but having $100 cash in my wallet at the beginning of the week has really served to show me just how much i am spending. which has me thinking a lot about the cost of buying organic. 

i think that trader joe's (where i do the vast bulk of my everyday shopping) does a great job of offering a wide range of organic products at fairly reasonable prices. still, there are common areas where organic costs are significantly higher--dairy and meat, most notably. at this point, i'm pretty willing to take the extra expense and buy organic whenever it is offered as an option, even if it means that i have to cut back in other areas. but i can't say our diet is 100%, or even 80% organic. right now i think we're hovering somewhere in the 70% range. 

you're probably already familiar with the "dirty dozen," a list of the 12 major offending fruits & vegetables when it comes to pesticide contamination. i'll post them anyway as a reference--this list has been compiled by the environmental working group. 

apples

cherries 

grapes imported from chile

nectarines 

peaches

pears

raspberries

strawberries

bell peppers 

celery 

potatoes

spinach 

in additon, here's a list of f&v that contain little to no pesticide residue:

bananas

kiwi

mangoes

papaya

pineapple

asparagus

avocado 

broccoli

cauliflower

corn

onions

peas

easy enough. soft stuff acts like a sponge, stuff with a tough exterior or inedible peel is not an issue. but when it comes to other grocery items, (olive oil, beans, beer, butter, crackers, nuts, chocolate, eggs) the method for selecting  isn't so clear. here's my take, thought it's probably not unique: as consumers, we "vote" with our dollars. buying organic as much as possible will raise demand, which will lower prices and increase buying options overall(that's my 9th grade economics at work for you). it shouldn't be forgotten that organic farming is typically far gentler on the earth than traditional "mono-cropping." this is not to say that all organic is created equal--in efforts to supply consumers with organic items at lower prices, stores (such as, but not limited to, walmart) will transport items from overseas, where regulations  can be a bit shifty. transport also results in unnecessary greenhouse gasses. which means oftentimes it is best to buy local, even if a farm is not certifiably organic. 

what's a girl to do? 

debate and ponder and label-read in the middle of the aisle. search out new options. get back to the local market. try to stick to the $100 limit without going crazy. feed the little one only top-notch stuff, even if it means taking a hit somewhere else. hope for the best. 

i'm saving another food-related topic for tomorrow's post... check back!