Shell game

UPDATED: The cruelty of industrial egg-riculture—plus a tasty recipe for your local pastured eggs 10

egg_frieseConsider the egg. Photo: Kurt Michael Friese

UPDATE:  The owner of the hatchery in the video mentioned below has spoken out, says there were violations of procedure but makes no apologies.  He calls “instantaneous Euthanasia” “Standard industry practice.”  Read the story here.

Iowa is the number-one producer of eggs in the country, with more than twice the number of laying hens than Ohio, the number two state. There are nearly 20 times as many hens here than there are people, producing a shade over 14 billion eggs a year. As one might expect, their living conditions are less than ideal.

A cursory glance at the website of the Iowa Egg Council does not reveal any of the images of the way the laying hens are treated, but rather concerns itself with recipes, coloring books for the kids, and “Eggbert’s” somewhat rosy history of egg production in Iowa. A search of their site for the term “battery cage” yields a goose egg. But battery cages are one of the major reasons why Iowa out-produces everyone else - we have lots of them.

Across the US there are about 280 million hens in battery cages at any given time, cages that so severely restrict their movements that they cannot even spread their wings. They can’t nest, bathe in the dust, perch or forage, all instinctive chicken behaviors. Completely depleted of calcium in a few short weeks, their bones break and they are shipped off, dead and dying, to soup plants and pet food factories.

Then of course there’s the small issue of the effluent these factories produce, which must be stored lest it leak into the environment, which inevitably it does. The fumes threaten the health not only of the workers at these facilities but of the neighbors on the surrounding farms too.

While it’s true that none of this is news, it is interesting to note the ways people have opted out of participating in this heinous activity, and the ways that Big Egg has attempted to mask their misdeeds.

Here in Iowa City two years ago the student body of the University of Iowa voted to ban those eggs, insisting that only “cage-free” eggs be served to the 31,000 students and 15,000 staff members who live, work and learn in the Old Capitol. Sadly though, taking them out of the cages does not usually lead to bucolic lives on Old MacDonald’s farm.

Cage-free eggs come from chickens raised in warehouses in their thousands, beaks mutilated to prevent them from pecking each other to death due to stress, and exposed to ammonia and hydrogen sulfide gasses. Of course these are all hens. The male chicks were ground up alive soon after hatching and made into feed or fertilizer. They don’t lay eggs and are therefore of no use to the industry.

Yet all of this is only part of the reason why I don’t use such eggs in my restaurant. Our eggs come from Steve Rogers of Highland Vista farms, who runs his operation based on the model of sustainable-farm folk hero Joel Salatin. His chickens live on pasture, with the freedom to come and go from the coop as they please. They’re locked up at night to protect them from predators, and the rest of the time they scratch and forage on a different patch of pasture as they are moved about the farm. They live very happy, natural chicken lives and you can taste it in the eggs.

They cost us about three times what the factory eggs cost, or about $54.00 for a case of 15 dozen, which breaks down to about 30 cents an egg. Pricey? Perhaps, but it means 60 cents worth of the plate cost of the huevos rancheros we serve at brunch every Sunday, and when it comes to freshness and flavor (not to mention nutritional quality) there is simply no comparison.

We occasionally serve a very simple egg-based dessert over seasonal fresh fruits called Zabaglione (the French call it Sabayon).  It always wins raves for it’s rich decadence.  But each time a customer asks if we add turmeric or saffron to make it so yellow, I smile and say “no, that’s what eggs are supposed to look like.”

zabA little zab’ll do ya’.Photo: Kurt Michael FrieseZabaglione
6 egg yolks
2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cups Marsala wine (or substitute rum, or Grand Marnier, or whatever turns you on)

Place a stainless steel bowl over a simmering saucepan of water to create a double boiler.  In the bowl, whisk the eggs briskly and constantly with the sugar.  While continuing to whisk, drizzle in the Marsala wine.  Continue to whisk until the mixture becomes light and fluffy,  a lttle like whipped cream at soft peaks.

Serve immediately over your favorite fresh fruits.  Serves 4-6

 

 

 

Kurt Michael Friese is chef/owner of Devotay in Iowa City, serves on the Slow Food USA Board of Directors, and is editor-in-chief of the magazine Edible Iowa River Valley. His new book, A Cook’s Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland, was published in August 2008. He lives with his wife Kim in rural Johnson County.

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  1. bomfog Posted 10:06 am
    02 Sep 2009

    There's a problem with the "zab" and "egg friese" images.The URLs for the pictures are:http://www.grist.org/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=http://www.grist.org/i/assets/2/friese_zabaglione.jpg&w=307 http://www.grist.org/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=http://www.grist.org/i/assets
    /2/friese_egg.jpg&w=307 The page markup used relative vs absolute paths, I b'lieve.  

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  2. roncastle Posted 10:51 am
    02 Sep 2009

    Chicken CAFOs aren't any different than CAFOs for beef or pork.  Antibiotic laden food and manure.  There are a number of chicken houses and laying houses in our part of the world having a hard time getting rid of the manure contaminated with antibiotics.Visit www.byebyebeef.com where are have a great recipe for salmonella burgers.  I guess you could use CAFO eggs as a binder and it might enhance the bacteric count?

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  3. condegrey Posted 6:11 pm
    02 Sep 2009

    Do you serve any vegan options that do away with eggs all together? That's the real test of sustainability and respect for the earth---whether it's a piece of land, a tree, a river, the ocean or animals. They're all part of a great ecosystem and we as 6.7 billion humans need to eat lower on the food chain in order to sustain that ecosystem. To me, that means not eating any animal products at all.

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    1. Kurt Michael Friese's avatar

      Kurt Michael Friese Posted 6:15 pm
      02 Sep 2009

      Yes we do.  Abot 60% of our menu is vegetarian, and about a third of that is vegan.

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  4. splashy's avatar

    splashy Posted 6:47 pm
    02 Sep 2009

    So, if you buy organic eggs at the grocery, are you getting them from chickens that have been allowed to roam free or not?I would buy local eggs, but if they are not organic who knows what is being bought at the local feed store to supplement their diet.

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    1. Kurt Michael Friese's avatar

      Kurt Michael Friese Posted 5:38 am
      03 Sep 2009

      Splashy - While it's possible that the "organic" eggs you buy in the grocery are humanely treated, it is unlikely.  A great resource for finding a farmer near you (not just for eggs but for anything farmers grow) is Local Harvest.
      Dr X - I'm afraid you'll need to ask a farmer about that mown forage question.  Perhaps the link above would be useful for finding that answer as well.

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    2. foodprovider's avatar

      foodprovider Posted 7:08 am
      03 Sep 2009

      Splashy,  Thera are strict regulations on what a feed mill can and cannot put into feeds.  THe antibiotic laws are strict and are enforced.  We need to document everything and flush the system when changing feeds.  I have found that the larger, commercial producers follow the rules alot closer (becuase they are under high standars of production) than some of the small backyard operations.

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  5. amazingdrx Posted 10:00 pm
    02 Sep 2009

    Good heads up on cage-free eggs, what a scam.I am considering worm farming to provide extra protien for chickens.  Plus  rotational foraging with moveable quarters.  Could mown forage be dried & frozen for winter chicken feed?  Ther's got to be a way around feed store bills and contamination, without paying for organic feed.

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  6. CentreofNowhere Posted 3:23 pm
    03 Sep 2009

    Splashy - if you find a farmer near you, the greatest advantage that you'll have will be being able to ask him/her what they're feeding the chickens and how the chickens are being treated. In our rural area, many farms are not certified organic due to the cost of going through the certification process; however, I know my Egg-Lady and I know what she feeds to her chickens and how they're cared for. I am very lucky to have this personal relationship because this kind of knowledge is power for the consumer. Good luck!

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  7. jonnyappleseed's avatar

    jonnyappleseed Posted 11:46 am
    07 Sep 2009

    Devotay is a very nice restaurant; I've had many good meals there. However, it will snow and freeze in Iowa, and that will trigger a change in the egg yolk color. Do I need to add that 'pasturing' the chickens will become...difficult....soon? If the egg yolks maintain that wonderful deep orangey color this winter, one explanation would be supplemental alfalfa. Other explanations are a bit more intriguing. There is a color wheel for eggs - just like a paint color wheel- and producers can select the color they want. To achieve that, they will add to the diets various flower-derived ingredients. (These used to be grown mostly in Mexico, but that business shifted to India a few years back. ADM is a major supplier.) Anyway, Kurt is a good chef and has a nice restaurant that has done well - but inexpensive it isn't.

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