Too many egg labels

One day while looking at all the egg choices in the grocery store, I realized how far-seeing and progressive most rural families were in the 1950s and 1960s.

Cartons labeled “Eggs” contained eggs. No descriptives necessary.

There were “Free-Range Eggs.” Okay. When I was growing up near Rocky Branch, we had a chicken house. The chickens were kept in place by a chicken-wire fence. They had access to outside the chicken house, but they were not, strictly speaking, free-range chickens.

The store had “Organic Eggs,” too. I’m not really certain what makes an egg “organic.” Seems any egg that comes from a chicken is organic, since laying eggs is what chickens do. It is a natural thing for chickens to do. These days, though, “organic” has an exploded definition, so I guess an “organic” egg is one laid by a chicken that is fed “organic” chicken feed.

The real confusing label, though, was “Vegetarian Eggs.” As far as I know, eggs don’t eat anything. An egg is a step away from requiring gathered food. Our chickens (or any non-free-range chicken) were hardly vegetarian. I suppose bugs and worms come under the non-vegetable label.

Chickens not kept in cages are, through no choice of their own, vegetarian. Caged chickens do not have an opportunity to eat worms or bugs.

Was a time people had chickens, the chickens laid eggs, people ate the eggs. Pretty much the way God intended – Label-Free Eggs.