Growing up in a small European town I was used to having a garden, growing our own vegetables, picking apples and cherries from the trees, currant or gooseberries straight from the bushes and I was also used to eating fresh eggs. We had ducks and chickens and at one point, we even had turkeys. Back then I didn’t understand my mom’s excitement over fresh milk or cream cheese we occasionally got from her friend’s farm. There were exchanges and trading going on, swapping fresh eggs for meat, or home-made fruit preserves for a pot of lard. We had chives reaching up to my knees and radishes as big as my palm. Our strawberries were not as big and pretty as those we now buy at supermarkets but they were delicious and fragrant and we’d pick up fallen apples from the grass, wiping them in our t-shirts, not having to worry that we’d get sick. No chemicals or wax that we’d have to scrape off first!
I’m happy to see that more and more people are trying to buy organic produce and local farmers markets are becoming popular again. To buy foods that are in season is the key! You will be surprised how much flavor you can squeeze out of the raw foods. They are also good for your diet, because you will feel full with a smaller portion than usual. Don’t be afraid to mix different textures and colors. Compliment flavors and enhance them with fresh spices.
Some neighborhoods and house subdivisions now allow for people to have chickens. I just recently discovered that one of my colleagues at work has them and that he also has more eggs than he can use. He gave me a dozen of these brown, truly organic eggs. Suddenly I got a flashback to my childhood, the image of my mom’s victorious face over fresh groceries. And I too, felt like a queen, or like a victorious warrior woman bringing food home to her children… 😉 I held the eggs like some big prize, thinking how I’m going to make them for my two daughters and they will get the best of the best, the freshest eggs out there!
Surely enough, I cracked these eggs and the yolks were nearly orange! “This is what eggs are supposed to look like!” I thought to myself. We all enjoyed that breakfast very much and had to admit, that eating organic definitely does make a difference!
photo credit / Duke Morse Photography
Leave a Reply