A Little More Conversation: Sausage & Eggplant Quiche
Excerpted from Cold Cereal & Toast
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Eggs are a serious subject in our household. With a fiercely competitive egg toss at our annual family barbecue for year-long bragging rights, and having married into a family that made a small fortune on a few chicken houses dedicated to egg production, eggs make their way into more than a couple rounds of conversation.
Serious conversations around eggs are quite extensive, actually; much of it around the myriad of claims, labels, and terms besieging the industry. An article in The New York Times breaks down carton claims to help consumers determine how hens are raised, what they are fed, and extra benefits the eggs might provide. This article from the Humane Society is also educational. Terms that explain how hens are raised may prove to be the most valuable when it comes to choosing eggs, if not the most controversial.
Take a recent study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry that found free-range eggs to have increased amount of pollutants than eggs from confined chickens. Not only did the definition of “free-range” come into question, but many wondered the overall relevance of a study that took place in Taiwan, an industrialized, highly populated island where environmental contaminants may be more prevalent — although this is an increasing concern in the U.S.
And then there’s the evidence that eggs from pasture-raised poultry contain less fat, more vitamin A and significantly more omega-3 fatty acids. “Pasture-raised” is a term not regulated by the USDA, but one that is gaining momentum to help distinguish these food products as more animal-friendly. Yet the significant price differential begs the question – is it worth it?
Nothing better than fresh eggs from the north country.