Drugged Chickens in Prison

Jul 10, 2009

Poignant and true:

Consider two eggs:

If I go the local diner, I can get a high quality diner egg, over easy. The egg is a standard manufactured egg, created in quantity by drugged chickens in prison.

If I make an egg at home, I'll use a free range egg from the farmer's market, which I'll happily pay 39 cents for. This egg tastes like an egg, and the extra money pays for a local farmer and a (slightly) happier chicken.

-Seth Godin, Quality, scale and the regular kind


Now, Seth's post is about the minor cost of major improvements in subjective quality. But I'm going to pretend he was writing about the chickens. Drugged chickens in prison, specifically.*

And it's not just the chickens. It's the cows and the pigs and every other food animal that somehow finds its way to your grocer's fresh meat department. UNLESS you happen to shop at an HEB or Central Market or Whole Foods or specialty grocer or a local farmer's market, where you can purchase free-range, hormone- and antibiotic-free beef, pork, poultry, and eggs.

Yes, it's more expensive and more difficult to acquire, but only slightly. It's also more humane and generally tastier. It doesn't contribute to the drugged torture of some defenseless animal, but rewards conscientious farmers who care about their product, their environment, and our health.

Learn more:
Farm Sanctuary
Factory Farming on Wikipedia
Sustainable Table
Food Inc.
Free Screenings of Food Inc.

*side note: is that not the funniest turn of phrase you've heard today?

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3 Response to "Drugged Chickens in Prison"

Leah Says:

So, I read the egg article. Interesting.
In all actuality, though, the homemade egg is less expensive. He didn't have to drive to and from the diner, just to and from the local farmers market.
Heck, if he raised his own chickens, he'd have even more control over the quality of his eggs and meat!
Think of that.

However, he talked about happy chickens. I really am not that concerned wether a chicken is happy or not. Really, a chicken will be happiest when it is doing what God designed it to do. Eating bugs.

So, you can bet the farm that when we get our chickens, they'll be free range bug eaters! And make really tasty eggs!

11:22 AM
knighton Says:

He was really more focused on quality product from a subjective standpoint, as contrasted with a "quality" product that merely meets manufacturing requirements.

That kind of discussion of quality applies to almost all areas of life, not just eggs and farming. Consider the quality of a hand-sewn, custom-fitted garment versus some mass produced piece of nylon from China. Or a PC versus a Mac. ;-)

I just digressed into the food discussion because it's important and reflects a societal attitude about quality. Just because that McDonald's burger is consistent and tastes the same at every location, doesn't mean it has any kind of quality whatsoever.

11:30 AM
knighton Says:

Oh, and I get farmers market quality eggs at HEB. They sell locally raised, free range, hormone- and antibiotic-free eggs for about $1 more than the factory eggs.

They taste SO much better. In my estimation, worth the dollar. ;-)

11:32 AM

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