On TV, because of the bird flu outbreak, they're talking about the rising price of eggs. A farmer explains that "there are trends" and that "now" consumers are paying attention to the numbers on the egg cartons, which range from 0 to 3. Eggs numbered 0 come from hens raised organically (they eat organic feed and don't take antibiotics); 1 comes from hens that live outdoors, on farms, but their feed isn't organic and they do take antibiotics; 2 comes from hens raised on the ground, but with reduced mobility; and 3 eggs are raised in cages.
Anyone who has seen hens in cages will know what I'm talking about. Hens, due to their animal behavior, need to hide to lay eggs. In an iron cage, they don't have egg layers, and what they do—and it's painful to see—is hide under each other. Their feet get injured by the wire mesh that serves as their "ground." Inevitably, an egg produced this way doesn't taste the same as an egg from a hen that has been able to peck at whatever it wanted, free and happy. A few days ago, at a conference on small producers at the Fòrum Gastronòmic, when the farmers from Can Soler de N'Hug let us taste their lamb, we understood that a dignified life and death, without stress, make the meat much tastier.
We have the food we want at our fingertips, freeze-dried, chopped, and packaged so we don't have to waste time. We enjoy weekend lunches and dinners, post them on Instagram, and make exaggerated faces of pleasure when we taste a spoonful of anything. But we've turned everyday breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners into tedious chores without juice or heather. Going grocery shopping has never been so unimportant. Who has the time and inclination to look into the extreme importance of the number of eggs?
