Tuesday, September 1, 2009

"Eggs Is Eggs," right?

I'm doing a little food experiment this morning. You have three guesses to pick which egg is from Walmart, and which egg is a farm-fresh egg from the farmers' market (and the first 2 guesses don't count, as we say in our house!):

I'm really stunned at the difference in these eggs. Farm-fresh eggs have darker, richer yolks. They have MUCH more flavor. And note the difference in the structure of the eggs -- the fresh egg has much more of the firm white - amazing! And (interestingly enough), if the yolk of each egg is broken lightly, you can see below how the flimsy Walmart egg runs more, but the farm-fresh one holds its shape better.

From reading Jo-Lynne's blog, I'm becoming more interested in buying fresher foods, and more healthy foods. And now Adam (my resident researcher!) has gotten into it. He found this website, where you can look up the name of ANY ADDITIVE found in any food sold in America, and discover all about that additive. Some of them are known cancer-causers!

He also was reading studies from the publication that is the British equivalent of the AMA. (I forget its name - the Lancet?) Did you know that 1 out of 3 people will be diagnosed with cancer? Did you know that the number of children diagnosed with peanut allergies DOUBLED from 1997 to 2002? In recent years, allergies, asthma, cancer, alzheimers, and many other illnesses, have sky-rocketed. Many people wonder if the harmful additives in our food are at least partially to blame.

So, if fresh, non-additive foods taste better, work better, and are healthier, why do we still buy the other? Convenience? Price? Hopefully Americans will begin to make healthier choices in what they eat.

For one, I'm going to hunt down an organic chicken!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

We are actually trying Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) tomorrow when we will pick up a weekly share of a farm harvest. It should be interesting to see how much produce it is and how much better it is than what we get at the farmer's market close to our house.

M.K. said...

I have several friends trying that, Andrea, and it looks fun! I'd be interested to know if you like it better than your farmers' market.

Beth Johnson said...

Take a look at my brother's farm -Oakviewfarms.com You can buy wonderful flour and cornmeal from him.

SB

diber said...

We have a CSA box from May through Nov. It's AWESOME! yummy organic veggies every week, and the knowledge that the nice Mennonite farmer in Lancaster is making ends meet. I like it better than a farmer's market, because he chooses stuff I wouldn't necessarily choose for my box, so I'm trying new stuff. And I plain don't have the brain power to choose anything if I have the option of someone choosing for me. *grin*

MK: I'm ALL OVER this topic. The hormones and the chemical additives in food freaks me out.
There's a recent documentary (as in, I don't know if it's on DVD yet) called Food, Inc., that I'm really interested in seeing.

I've heard that Walmart is increasing their options for whole foods and organic foods, so maybe you'll have some other choices there. We have a Trader Joe's here and that's awesome; it's sort of like Whole Foods, but cheaper. :)

M.K. said...

Beth - I'll check out your brother's farm, thanks. I wish I lived closer! And J - I'm interested in this CSA thing. Our homeschooling group has a co-op and gets deliveries. It's not exactly the same thing, but it might be a start.