From what I have gathered so far, Portland is big into local food / local ingredients, etc. I like that because, in theory, it should be fresher, and, as an added bonus, it is “greener” since it cuts back on transportation use, etc. That is the best pedestrian explanation my non-causey, non-political self can muster without hitting up Google for serious reading on why local is better. A simple “it’s a good thing” is usually enough to win me over, so we’ll apply that here. Basically, if I can, I am happy to buy local food here in Portland, but I will not be marching for my right to do so. Make sense? Good. Now, right after I finish this blog, I am going to take my stance in the middle of the road on the next topic.
So today… I went a little local – and got some local eggs. I know, sounds kind of ‘no big deal’-ish, right? But they are pretty cool. That’s right pretty cool eggs that I bought at the grocery store. (I know how that sounds.)
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Isn’t that fun?! They are all different colors! And they have a backstory – the hens (guessing they are white and brown – ha!) roam free on a farm up the road, then the farmer(s) just pack ’em up as they collect ’em and you get an egg variety pack. I am sure they all taste the same (and probably taste the same as the eggs I usually buy!), but I have to say, discovering that the eggs were all different hues when I got home was a fun surprise.
(Yes, yes. I know. I need to get out more.) (And, yes, you are right, I am a genius for missing the lovely bit of text touting this fact in the upper left part of the label. Duh!)
I have to say, I hesitated on buying ’em because these eggs were at a price point that if my thrifty, practical, world’s-best-bargain-hunter-of-a-shopper mother found out, I’d probably be disowned. You know what sold me? The little sign on the refrigerator door in front of the eggs that said ‘Our hens are not de-beaked.” Followed by some other language to the tune of we love our hens and want them to live their hen lives as happy hen lives should be lived. What a little nugget of marketing genius to sway someone like me who could probably be vegan if she watched enough animal rights videos on You Tube. De-beaked hens? Ewwwww! and awwwwwwwwwww! How mean. I am sure there are reasons for this practice, but, as you probably guessed – I am not well versed in the issues surrounding animal-based food production. I do, however, like to do a good thing when given options. The de-beaking of hens to lay eggs for my consumption sounded atrocious to me (like I was literally picturing hens with no beaks whatsoever while I was in the store), so I happily re-mortgaged my house to get these local eggs from fully beaked hens that are running around a farm up the street. I’ll take the multi-pack surprise as an added bonus and consider it worth it.