Which Egg Do You Want To Eat?

Left: Store brand “free range” and Right: Vital Farms organic pasture raised

The eggs I typically buy are Vital Farms brand, organic and pasture raised. If the store has regeneratively raised then I’ll go for those, but right now most stores don’t carry them. My sense is that for that extra $1 - $2 per carton, people aren’t buying them. There is more education to do on the benefits of regenerative farming.

But with the egg shortage recently due to the bird flu, Vital Farms eggs have not been on the shelves. In some grocery stores, they haven’t had eggs at all. So when I saw eggs on a recent food shopping trip, I decided to grab a dozen.

The best and most expensive eggs available were store brand “free range” eggs for $4.99 per dozen. Vital Farms organic pasture raised by comparison can be $10, regenerative eggs are even more.

So I didn’t have any grand expectations for the eggs I bought. I know how most chickens are raised in this country. I know that cage free, free range, non-GMO, no antibiotics, is really all horse shit when compared to a chicken that is actually raised on pasture. But I was shocked when I cracked these two eggs next to each other.

I was preparing to make chicken cutlets and I had one Vital Farm egg left, so I used it along with the new dozen I bought. The difference in color almost made me throw the egg away. I couldn’t believe how dead the egg on the left looked in comparison to the egg on the right.

The egg on the right looks like it’s full of life and nutrients. Thick and creamy. While the egg on the left looks like it came from a chicken who struggled to survive.

Most food we eat doesn’t have such a contrast when put side by side. Meats, vegetables, and fruits, have a better appearance when raised regeneratively or organically, when compared to conventionally raised. They have a better taste too. But out of the box (out of the shell), I don’t think the juxtaposition is nearly as drastic this.

When I see the difference in these yolks it is no wonder to me that bird flu spreads so quickly and easily through the factory chicken farms that house hundreds of thousands of birds all crammed on top of each other, living in their own filth and excrements. These birds are clearly very unhealthy and their immune systems are therefore incapable of fighting off a virus. The same way that many people with co-morbidities were unable to fight off COVID in this country.

And it’s not wonder. If most people are eating eggs that look like the one on the left, or worse, then how could we expect to be healthy. If what were putting into our bodies is dead, then how could we expect to live.

The first key to turning around our health is putting healthy food in front of us. And that happens when we force the food system to change, and start growing food that serves us and not the corporations that own the system.