As longtime readers know, I go to the Eastern Market on Saturdays pretty much year-round. In season there’s the fresh local produce, and out of season there’s wholesale stuff from elsewhere, and in all seasons there are usually at least a few things I can’t get anywhere else, like…fresh eggs right off the farm. Local meats. Stuff like that.
My egg guy is a peach. He charges $6/dozen, but since I always buy two dozen and bring back my empty cartons, I give him $10 for two. This week, he said, “Man, can you believe what they’re asking down the way? Eight bucks!” I hadn’t noticed — I only have eyes for his eggs, with their vivid orange, pudding-like yolks — but I wasn’t surprised. Eggs have been all over the map, price-wise, in the last couple years, which I attribute to:
** Season. Hens lay less in winter, price goes up.
** Bird flu. When agriculture inspectors are taking out whole flocks to stop the spread, the price will go up.
** Cage-free mandates, a new one this year. As of January 1, all eggs sold in Michigan have to be from uncaged chickens. When I mentioned this, he said, “We’ve known that was coming for at least a year. Everyone’s already made the change, even the big outfits.”
However, this week the groceries have been stripping eggs from their shelves and hanging up apologetic signs about the new law, which has led to an uprising on right-wing Twitter — the only Twitter, these days — about CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS OUTRAGE and WHAT WILL THE DEMS INFLICT UPON US NEXT and so on. It fell to an unemployed young reporter to point out that the bill as introduced was sponsored by a Republican state senator, a farmer, way back in 2019, and passed by a GOP-controlled state legislature. Ha ha ha. However, the panic is real:
(This guy ⬆️ calls himself an “independent journalist” but does virtually no reporting I can see* other than tweeting, although he’s quite the aggregator of others’ work. *I don’t subscribe to his Substack; maybe it’s there.)
It seems to this egg-buyer that what’s being revealed here is the hollowness of the “we support local farmers” propaganda posters that hang in virtually every grocery I patronize. Granted, my part of Michigan isn’t that far from the Ohio border, and if all the eggs pulled from the shelves can’t be verified as being from cage-free hens, then that suggests they came from Ohio or someplace where poultry isn’t treated so well. I recall a widely loathed operation called Buckeye Egg from my time there.
Anyway, it’s fun to watch these wingnuts tearing one another up on Twitter. And no, I’m not telling anyone there about my egg guy at the market. He says he’ll keep the prices down until he can’t anymore, and I appreciate that as much as I do his brown eggs.
I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of this in the coming months — persistently high prices and fights on Twitter between MAGA factions. I, for one, am bringing the popcorn.
Sunday with another holiday ahead of us this week. Enjoy it. Yesterday we hit 58 degrees and we did a bike loop of Belle Isle. Today? Sheets of cold, driving rain. The lesson: Take your pleasant moments where you can in the dark season. They’re rare enough.
Mark P said on December 29, 2024 at 3:36 pm
I frequent Quora, where MAGAts are still ranting about the Joe Biden crime family. They are so steeped in anger and hate that they just can’t let go. If they don’t have any other target, they will go after each other, like a pack of dogs. I won’t bring popcorn — too much stuff between teeth — well, OK, maybe one of those triple-divided cans with caramel in one compartment. But I will enjoy the dogfight.
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Ann said on December 29, 2024 at 4:19 pm
My most-local farmer now sells his “grateful eggs laid by hippie chicks” for $9.29/dozen. He points out that they’re fed only soy-free and corn-free organic feed. You know what? I don’t care. Another person, who lives maybe two miles further away, sells theirs for under $5/dozen. No doubt feeding them some kind of ordinary commercial chicken feed. As long as the chickens get to eat bugs as God intended, that’s good enough for me. Plus the hippie chicks guy is now so deep into RFK food and vaccine conspiracy that I finally stopped following him on social media for my own mental health.
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David C said on December 29, 2024 at 4:25 pm
Maybe I haven’t been paying much attention, but through all of the egg price bitching I haven’t noticed much difference. I buy our eggs from the farm market and they might have gone up. Same with the grass finished beef and lamb we buy. Maybe the rate of bougie food inflation is less. Anyway, some enterprising soul should start an omelette speakeasy with cut rate out of state eggs.
RIP Jimmy Carter.
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Suzanne said on December 29, 2024 at 5:30 pm
We get our eggs from a guy near where we used to live. Farm fresh and $2 per dozen.
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Little Bird said on December 29, 2024 at 5:38 pm
Fuck. Carter is gone. I’m weirdly kind of glad he’s not going to have to see what’s actually coming.
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Alan Stamm said on December 29, 2024 at 5:43 pm
Carter speaks to the moment:
“We are all Americans together, and we must not forget that the common good is our common interest and our individual responsibility.”
— Presidential farewell address on Jan. 14, 1981
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Deborah said on December 29, 2024 at 5:46 pm
It’s a good thing that Jimmy Carter died before Trump takes office again. With Biden still president, Carter will get a proper send off in Washington. He truly had amazing character, he did so much good as president and especially after his presidency. What a great man.
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Dexter Friend said on December 29, 2024 at 8:16 pm
I remember being outraged at Carter when I had to get a credit card in 1977, as the White Sox changed their policy and quit accepting money orders, and Opening Day, a tradition of mine and my Droogs, was approaching. Carter, just days before, ordered banks to quit issuing credit, period. Then in 1980, he ruined the hopes of many American athletes by pulling the USA out of the Moscow Olympiad.
In between, though, he did the best any President could have possibly done, the 444 days, the Camp David Accords, and under his watch a rebounded robust economy. He did take heat for the energy crisis and separately the gasoline shortage. What President could have controlled that, anyway?
Under a microscope, his administration was a massive success. Fuck the egg-headed historians who trash President Jimmy Carter.
Today I am 32 years alcohol-free. I celebrated with a McDonald’s apple pie. $1.99. One of our tenets: “Keep It Simple.” That was from Dr. Bob Smith. He was a proctologist who really knew his shit. 🙂
Eggs were $2.05 all summer at Aldi’s. Then for a month, $4.05. 2 weeks ago, $3.05.
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Dorothy said on December 29, 2024 at 8:27 pm
In March I worked the polls (I forget what the election was for but I processed exactly ONE person on a paper ballot all freaking day). I met a guy named Greg who was another paper ballot judge like me. I brought up wishing I had a way to get local eggs, and he immediately gave me an address for Grandma Betty, and told me how she keeps her side porch unlocked all the time. There’s a fridge in there, and a counter top. Inside the fridge is a plate with cash on it to make change, if you needed to. Her medium eggs were $3/dozen, $4 for large (the ones I always buy) and $5 for XL.
So I went the first time with my husband because I was a little scared someone would pull out a shotgun and chase us off the property, but that never happened. And I came and went after that by myself, always thankful that Greg told me how to buy these eggs. It’s about 5 miles from my house so it’s not inconvenient at all. And I save my empty egg boxes all the time for her.
Then in October one day when I had Olivia in the car with me, I said “We’re making a stop to pick up fresh eggs before I get you home.” And of course she asked me questions about why I buy eggs there and not at Kroger or Meijer. I told her about Grandma Betty. “Do you talk to her? How do you get in her house?” Lots of questions from the 7 year old. She was surprised I’d never met her. So we stop in the back of the house, I got her out of her car seat to see where and how I picked up and paid for the eggs. I got her buckled back in the car seat and as we’re driving down the driveway, lo and behold there’s Grandma Betty walking out to get her mail! I stopped the car and introduced myself (I had dropped off a bottle of Mike’s honey for her once back in June). She smiled and smiled and thanked me for saying hello. I asked how long she’d be getting eggs. She gestured to the house across the field – her son has the chickens – but Betty lives by herself. “I’m going to be 99 in January!” she said proudly. Olivia was so amazed. I had just told her I had never met Grandma Betty, and like magic she appeared!
Sorry for the long post but I hope you will all enjoy my little egg story. I have three empty boxes in the back of my car right now. I might stop tomorrow to see if she still has eggs. I’m guessing the chickens have stopped laying since it’s wintertime. I’ll let you all know!
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Sherri said on December 29, 2024 at 8:48 pm
The main thing I’ve noticed about eggs at the grocery store is that there are so many different types now. Do I get the organic eggs? Or the cage-free? Are those different than the free-range? And what about the Omega-3? Or pasture-raised? Those are just the options at my ordinary grocery store. If I go to my fancy co-op grocery, then there’s mobile pastured, heirloom blue, certified regenerative organic pasture raised, plus duck eggs and quail eggs.
The cheapest eggs are about $7/dozen, the expensive eggs $10/dozen, though the local co-op has eggs at $5 and $6 per dozen (plus the duck eggs, which are about $6 per half dozen.)
I buy a lot of liquid egg whites, as a low fat high protein source to add to oatmeal. These run about $8 for a 32 oz carton, also advertised as cage free.
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Brandon said on December 29, 2024 at 9:12 pm
Here it’s bright and sunny, with a temperature of 78 degrees.
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Deborah said on December 29, 2024 at 9:17 pm
I love eggs, every possible way except raw of course, although I used to put a raw egg in smoothies, this was way back before anyone called them smoothies. I stopped doing that when I read that it probably wasn’t a good idea. I wish I could get them from local farmers, I did that for a while at the farmers market in Santa Fe but I haven’t done it lately. They are so much better than store bought. I also bought them a few times at the Lincoln Park farmers market in Chicago. I need to remember to do that more regularly.
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jcburns said on December 29, 2024 at 10:14 pm
I had eggs a la microonda this morning for breakfast. They came from…let me check, ah yeah, Trader Joe’s. Hey, they were good!
Nice of youall to remember our Georgia president who has passed on to better places (I certainly hope.) Sad day here in the neighborhood of his library—which is just down the street really…go down Highland Avenue, cross Ponce next to the Plaza Theater, go past our barbecue place and then Manuels Tavern, the Democratic drinking place, hang a right, and there you are. On Sundays you can buy fresh eggs and many other things from a Farmers Market set up at the library.
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alex said on December 29, 2024 at 11:13 pm
I just spent 3 eggs trying to bind together ground ham in a Hungarian dish and it didn’t do shit. I’m about to tell the world to go suck a fucking egg.
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Jeff Gill said on December 30, 2024 at 9:08 am
I know this is a Xwitter link, but in honor of Jimmy Carter, you have to see this program from a jazz event he put on in the White House in 1978. It’s amazing, and then you see the second page of participants and superlatives fail me…
https://x.com/tedgioia/status/1873590580632256537
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Suzanne said on December 30, 2024 at 9:43 am
Alex, I am in need of a Hungarian lentil soup recipe for New Years Day. I asked a Hungarian friend but his promise to email me a recipe has not been fulfilled. Do you have a good recipe?
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susan said on December 30, 2024 at 10:52 am
age of anxiety
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alex said on December 30, 2024 at 11:34 am
Suzanne, I’m on my way out the door at the moment but I’ll get back to you on this in a little bit. It involves making some bacon cracklings and caramelizing onion in the drippings and then making a roux.
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Heather said on December 30, 2024 at 1:14 pm
They usually have organic eggs for a good price at my local Aldi. I generally don’t pay more than $6 at my local independent grocery store or Trader Joe’s for some kind of cage-free or free-range eggs. Sometimes in summer I splurge at the farmers’ market. Then I went to Jewel to get something I couldn’t find anywhere else and all the eggs were at least $7. Suddenly I understood why everyone complains about the price of eggs.
I always like to get brown eggs–they just are more pleasing to look at.
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alex said on December 30, 2024 at 3:44 pm
It’s a Hungarian tradition to eat lentil soup on New Year’s Day. It supposedly brings good luck, although it didn’t seem to help when the place got its ass kicked by Turks, Nazis or Soviets.
Okay, Suzanne, here it is:
16 oz (1 lb) dried brown lentils, rinsed and drained
4 slices thick bacon, finely diced
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 tablespoons vinegar
sour cream for serving
In a dutch oven, begin by browning the diced bacon over medium high heat. When it has rendered its fat and turned crispy, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate lined with paper towels. In the rendered fat, sauté the onion and celery over medium heat until tender, 5-10 minutes, then add garlic and let it sauté for one more minute.
Slowly add flour to coat the aromatics and brown it for 1-2 minutes. Begin adding broth slowly to create a smooth paste and cook the paste until nicely browned. Then add the paprika and bay leaves and remaining broth and the lentils. Increase heat and bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 50-60 minutes. Add water as needed if the mixture seems too thick. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot when you stir to prevent any clumping/scorching as the soup will develop a creamy consistency.
Add salt and black pepper to taste. Add vinegar, beginning with 2 tablespoons, and stir in more if you prefer — you want it more than faint, yet not overpowering. Add back the bacon cracklings, stirring them in. Serve in individual bowls with a dollop of sour cream.
You can also add smoked sausage or kielbasa to the soup, sliced on the bias and browned separately.
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alex said on December 30, 2024 at 3:55 pm
If you soak the lentils overnight it supposedly makes them more digestible. It’ll also save you cooking time.
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Suzanne said on December 30, 2024 at 4:47 pm
Thank you Alex!!
We always eat pork and sauerkraut on Jan 1 for good luck. With all the disease and deaths we’ve had the past couple of years, I don’t think that works any better than lentil soup. Maybe a combo of the two is the key!
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susan said on December 30, 2024 at 5:08 pm
Try pickled herring. That works for all sorts of what ails ya.
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Deborah said on December 30, 2024 at 8:53 pm
Pickled herring was something we always had for New Years when I was a kid, and I actually liked it. One of the few things my mother served that I gladly ate. It came in a jar, no one else in my family liked it beside me and my mother. To this day I still like it, my husband can’t stand the taste or smell of it so I never have it in the house. When I was in Sweden I had a lot of it, even though it made my husband gag.
Tomorrow will be 3 weeks without a car, my husband is going to take an Uber to the dealership service department to see what’s going on. No one ever calls and informs us, it has been so aggravating. The receptionist is a pissy person who has been horribly rude to us for daring to call and ask for an update. We’ve been going back to this dealer we bought the car from for 12 years and always got great service, friendly people, timely etc. Until this time. I Googled it and the dealer is part of a conglomerate of 280 dealerships around the country, it’s publicly traded and has been since the late 90s. I have no idea what has happened but it’s not good. New management maybe? Or maybe the whole system of dealership car repairs has gone down the toilet since companies are way more interested in making investors happy than customers. Since we only drive the car half the year we don’t have that much milage and since we’ve been getting it serviced there forever it was in pretty good shape except for wear and tear from driving it up to our cabin on the rough road. Whatever?
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Dorothy said on December 31, 2024 at 8:33 am
An update to my post yesterday about Grandma Betty’s eggs: we stopped by yesterday with 3 empty egg boxes. If she didn’t have any eggs in the fridge I was going to just leave the boxes, and then come back maybe in March to see if the chickens were laying again.
To my delight she had three boxes of a dozen eggs, all size large. I bought two of them. I felt a little selfish getting two of the three but what the heck? All’s fair in egg love, right?
Happy New Year everyone. I hope for peace and good health for all of us next year.
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