Everything Eggs With Wendi Hiebert

I spent this past weekend at one of Egg Farmers of Ontario’s displays at the Western Fair in London. The weather was perfect. So nice that I’ll admit I was a bit envious of the fair-goers who could be outdoors soaking up the sun, riding the roller coaster, and chowing down on corn dogs, deep-fried Mars Bars and candy apples. (Hey, it is a fair after all!)

Instead, I was inside (in the Progress Building) chatting with people about the goodness of eggs, answering questions about buying and cooking eggs, offering recipe booklets to those who like to cook and those who like to eat, and trying to dispel lingering concerns about eggs and cholesterol.

At any event we go to, we get all kinds of people of people stopping by. Here’s a sampling of who we met over the weekend.

* lots of egg lovers (many people simply tell us they love eggs!)

* a young boy (I’d guess about 13) who was excited about his Family Studies Foods class at school and wanted to pick up some recipes so he could practice cooking at home (a future chef in the making?)

* a young dad who wanted advice on feeding eggs to his 2 year old

* an 86-year old woman (who looked like she was barely into her 70’s!) who picked up our literature because she wanted to stay up-to-date with the latest information about eggs, then gave me and my colleague her address so we could drop by her house and see her garden

* a fellow who told us that when he was young (about age 5), his mom fed him raw eggs and marsala wine

* a woman, originally from Mexico, who eats soft-cooked eggs with salt and lime juice

* a gentleman who confided that since he’s started eating more eggs, he hadn’t been able to play the piano – and when we expressed our sympathy (on cue!), he confessed he’d never been able to play the piano (I know, it’s an old joke!)

* many people who are excited to see the microwave egg cookers we’re selling (we do marvel every year at the people who have never seen the microwave egg cookers as we’ve only been selling them for the past 15 years!!)

* people who have purchased the microwave egg cookers from us in the past and stop by to tell us they love using them

* a young girl who called the eggs made in the microwave egg cookers “daddy eggs” because her dad cooks her eggs with them

* devilled egg lovers who see our Rubbermaid Snack Keepers and “just have to buy one” to store devilled eggs (or hard-cooked eggs) (We sell them for the great price of $5.00. You can buy them online too.)

* the young woman who works in a restaurant that serves breakfast who wanted to know what to tell her customers who are nervous about the cholesterol in eggs or only want to eat egg whites (The answer? Cholesterol in our food has minimal, if any, effect on the amount of cholesterol in our blood. Saturated and trans fats raise blood cholesterol; eggs contain no trans fat and just a small amount of saturated fat. Other factors that will raise blood cholesterol – genetics, not eating enough fibre, and not getting enough exercise.)

* men who do a lot of the cooking at home – - and their supportive wives and girlfriends who encourage them to pursue their love of cooking!

* a guy who asked us if we knew what a Spanish farmer says to his hens. The answer? Ole! (Yes, another old joke!)

* a young girl who told us about the recipe she’d created and called “Bear Eggs”. The ingredient list includes scrambled eggs, pistachios and Parmesan cheese.

* many people who happily pick up our recipe card for Egg Salad and Devilled Eggs with its attached packet of seasonings AND can tell us (unprompted!) which recipe was on the card we were giving out last year (The answer: Pizza Frittata)

The Western Fair is on until next Sunday. Drop by and tell us your favourite egg joke or recipe!