What does 'free-range' mean to you?

Forgive me the holiday-quality of this post as I'm away unwinding, mostly wine-ing, but wanted to share this in a timely fashion.

A sometimes vegetarian with a guilty conscience, eggs have always been a staple in my diet and I'm always on the lookout for somewhere to buy the good eggs - the ones that have come from a happy and healthy hen. The last time I visited Melbourne, I came across a free-range product that I was really happy with - not only because the egg was good but also because I was able to get a lot of information about the process of production.

Back in Sydney, I spent a good half hour in the egg aisle recently, trying to find a free-range egg that was also produced by a local, Australian-owned company (to save food-miles). I eventually settled on a brand and was disappointed to find on my return home after some internet research, that although what I had in my hand might have been produced 'free-range', this company also (and might I add mostly) churns out eggs from cage hens. Although I had bought a free-range product, at the end of the day my money had gone to a company that profits most from non-free-range egg production - which includes practices such as trimming the beaks of hens and severe over-crowding.

Out of sheer frustration, I emailed the farmer that had produced the eggs that I had bought in Melbourne, wanting to know if he perhaps had a set up in Sydney also (alas no). Today, from that farmer, I received the following email:

At a time when most countries are tightening their farm animal welfare standards, here, the Australian Egg Corporation has launched plans for new standards for free range egg production which will allow de-beaking or beak trimming of hens as a matter of course, stocking densities on farms to increase from 1500 hens per hectare to a massive 20,000 and hens to be kept locked in sheds for up to 25 weeks.

Understandably, the free range industry and consumers are in turmoil over this proposal. We agree with the Egg Corporation that the current standards for free range egg production need to be changed - but they need to be tightened up to ensure that consumers are not misled. The changes proposed by the Australian Egg Corporation will allow large producers to charge customers a premium for branding their eggs as 'free range' without incurring the additional costs of genuine free range production methods.

We have set up a petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/freerange/

More info is on our blog at http://freerangereggs.blogspot.com

Besides the prospect of cruel practices being endorsed with the 'free-range' label, what I find most distressing is how difficult it is to access accurate information about food production and what the labels that we rely on to make our food purchase decisions actually mean. The changes proposed to animal welfare standards will only make this more confusing - how can a practice such as de-beaking be considered consistent with 'free-range' standards? When I go to the local outdoor market, convenience store, or supermarket, how am I supposed to know what I am buying? I'm no expert on farming, eggs, or free-range practices in general, so what I want is a system that allows me to identify quickly what food is produced in a way that I am happy with, that I want to support by buying. To me, the potential changes to the standards of free-range egg farming in Australia move further away from this and I see myself spending another half hour in the egg aisle trying to make the right decision and still making the wrong one.

As I said, I'm no expert, so if this is something that interests you then please take a look at the blog, website and petition for yourself. Also, if you have information that you would like to share (like where to find a good free-range egg in Sydney...), please add it in the comments section.

Breakfast of champions

Whilst at uni, I lived with a rather sweet guy who, despite being outrageously sociable, declined to share his treasured Saturday morning breakfast ritual with anyone. Between 9.00am and 10.00am every Saturday, he would disappear with a book to a little cafe around the corner from our place. I'm fairly sure that the staff stopped taking his order, because he ate exactly the same thing every week.

Since partaking in the rather distressing reality of full time work, Monday to Friday, 9 -5 (which, incidentally, it isn't anymore, it's more like 8 - 6), I understand his sacred Saturday routine. Lazy breakfasts at any time of the week are the first casualty when you step onto the career path. Lesson learned, I now reserve an hour or so for myself in the sunny spot in my backyard on a Saturday morning with the paper, a bottomless cup of tea and a plate of something tasty from my own kitchen. On today's menu was poached eggs with spiced beans and mushrooms on a toasted poppyseed bagel. I can't promise that Kurt Vonnegut Jr would endorse it, but it is damn tasty and makes a good start to the weekend.

Spiced beans and mushrooms

1 clove of garlic, crushed and chopped
1 tomato, diced
a handful of button mushrooms
1 little tin of mixed beans (around the 125g size)
1 tsp tomato paste
a couple of shakes of paprika
freshly ground pepper

Tip all of the ingredients for the spiced beans into a saucepan, mix well, and set over a low heat on the stove top. Let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. You may need to add a little bit of water to prevent the mixture drying out. This is a really flexible recipe that you can modify depending on what you have available. You could try adding chilli, fresh basil or coriander, baby spinach, haloumi, fried chorizo etc.

Poached eggs

Since this is about having a relaxing breakfast, don't go stressing yourself out over poaching the eggs. There are a couple of things that you can do to pretty much guarantee perfect poached eggs...

• A deep frying pan, or wide saucepan, is good for cooking a number of eggs simultaneously. Fill with water and set on the stove top, and bring the water to a boil. Splash in a tablespoon or two of white vinegar (this helps the eggs to hold together) and bring the water back to a simmer (it shouldn't bubble).
  
• Going one at a time, crack a cold, free range, egg into a cup or ramekin. Fresh eggs will keep their shape best.
  
• Stir the water to create a whirlpool in the centre of the pan and gently slide the egg into the whirlpool from the cup. The whirlpool helps to keep the egg in a nice shape and prevents the white from going straggly. Once the white begins to solidify, push the egg to the side of the pan, and add the next egg following the same method. If you are having any kind of bread with your eggs, now is the time to pop it into the toaster.
  
• Cook the eggs for approximately 2 minutes if you like a thick but runny yolk, and 4 minutes if you prefer the yolk hard. Whilst the egg is cooking, butter the toast and have it ready on the plate
  
• Use a slotted spoon to lift the eggs out and let the water drain off before transferring the egg to the toast. Add any sides (like the spiced beans and mushrooms) and serve, with a little freshly ground salt and pepper.

If that all seems a little too hard, you can always eat out. If you are in Melbourne or Sydney, this is a particularly good site for hunting down the best.