Now, we know you all know the answer to that — but here’s what Berkeley resident (and shhh, Soul Food Farm egg fan) Pollan said:

“It depends on what you’re buying…I buy them whenever I can at the farmers market. And I know how those eggs were raised. they were raised on grass, those animals live outdoors, they’re in very small flocks — they’re in fact raised much as eggs were raised in the days before we had to worry about salmonella. Which isn’t by the way that long ago….The eggs I buy tend to cost about 50 cents apiece. I tend to think it’s worth it. Two eggs for a dollar makes a very nice meal….We all like cheap food. But when we’re spending billions to deal with a salmonella outbreak, it isn’t really as cheap as it seems.”

Watch the full segment:

The massive Salmonella-caused egg recall by Wright County Egg, of Galt, Iowa, has now been upped to 380 million eggs, the New York Times reports. (We know you probably don’t have those eggs in your fridge, but in case someone you love might, here’s a handy guide to the affected brands and states.)

Jack DeCoster, the owner of Wright County Egg, is well-known to federal regulators, the Times reports: “In 1997, one of his companies agreed to pay a $2 million fine by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for violations in the workplace and worker housing. Officials said workers were forced to handle manure and dead chickens with their bare hands and to live in trailers infested with rats. The labor secretary … called Mr. DeCoster’s operation ‘an agricultural sweatshop.’”

I asked Alexis what she thought of the recall. Here’s what she wrote:

I read the news and thought immediately of the crowded conditions and awful cages used to house those chickens. Millions of chickens living locked up, forced to lay eggs. Like a sex shop or a sweat shop. Just abuse and horror, and if those chickens even think, probably wishing they could die …

Then I thought about the people who own those companies and work in those factories. Is it really possible to treat animals that way without a conscience? Is it really possible to not feel just a little uncomfortable about what is happening inside their poultry business? I think the answer is yes. Otherwise why would they keep  the public from viewing them?

And then I thought what a shocking society we have evolved into that we tolerate this kind of factory farming. That we (the collective we) have bought into the idea that we need this “cheap” food, that this is the only way it can be done to feed large segments of our society. That it is efficient or cost-effective. Or that the factory system is too large to dismantle. When did so many of us become so callous and indifferent to animals, food, and ourselves?

Because we are part of the system of factory farming every time we buy this food, or don’t speak out against the insanity of it, or just quietly keep supporting shops that sell this type of food.

I thought of the eggs last. They are little drops of poison and always were, even before they were recalled.

I’ll leave you with a bit more food for thought. Check out the image below first:

Google Earth image of the recalled egg producer's headquarters and 3 of the 4 nearby chicken-shed complexes

Wright County Egg Company has five facilities and produces 2.3 million dozen eggs a week, reported USA Today.

That’s almost 4 million eggs per day, and at an egg per day per hen, the same number of miserable chickens — 800,000 packed into each facility. I used Google Earth to look up the address of Wright County Egg in Galt, Iowa, and grabbed this screen shot above, which shows three of the four visible complexes of chicken sheds and their nearby “manure lagoon.” Each shed in the complex measures about 200 meters long. You can imagine the horrors inside — the graphic at top, which uses images from FarmSanctuary.org, is probably not that far off.

In contrast, the 1,200 free-ranging feathered ladies of Soul Food Farm lay around 530 eggs every day, says Alexis, explaining that “chickens in a natural environment don’t always lay every day…. they roam and hide eggs. And some of our hens are ready to be retired and are done laying.” These hens have a little more than 7 acres to stretch their legs.

All of a sudden, $8 for eggs really doesn’t seem that bad, does it? And they’re only $6.50 if you join the CSA!

The chickens available will be whole, pastured broiler chickens, roughly 3-4 lbs, for $6.50/lb. — the same tasty birds that Chez Panisse serves. They are slaughtered in a USDA certified plant and will come fresh, not frozen, with heads and feet attached. (We will provide removal instructions for the squeamish and uninitiated. Heads and feet make great stock, or dog chews.) Hearts, liver and gizzards will be available for separate purchase by the pound. Eggs will be $6.50/dozen. You will be able to order as many or as few chickens and eggs as you want, for any delivery location. There will be deliveries in San Francisco, the East Bay, and the Vacaville/Davis area; exact locations to be determined. The CSA will require a pre-payment of $100, the equivalent of the minimum order for three months.*

If you would like to be notified when we have all the CSA details ironed out in the next few weeks so you can join, please fill out this form. If you’ve already filled out the form and asked a question or offered to host a pickup site, expect to hear from me in the next week.

*If you have made a donation of $25 or more to the Soul Food Farm Fire Fund via PayPal, we will gladly credit your donation against your CSA fee.