Being vegan is often an alienating experience, except when popular culture or the New York Times (for example) provide a meat, dairy, and egg-free perspective or reference. There have been a couple of these references lately that seem to stand out to me.
First, the giant egg recall that's taking place has gathered some press around the issue of egg production. About a half a billion eggs are involved, which apparently is only about 1% of the total annual U.S. egg market. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are 90 billion eggs produced per year in the United States - about 3/4 of which are destined for human consumption and the remainder to be replacements for the egg-laying flock (http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Poultry/Background.htm). The same source states that Americans eat about 250 eggs per year.
Second, the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World has an evil character who not only is a vegan, but who is also a bad vegan (that is the movie's critique, not mine). It was a totally fun portrayal of vegans - far from realistic, yet somehow holding a lot of truth about how vegans are often perceived. I won't say anymore here because it's a good movie and I don't want to give too much away.
So what is my analysis? Perhaps being vegan is perhaps more mainstream than I ever thought it was before. There is definitely a major trend towards providing more compassionate care of animals used in agriculture, as well as more awareness about the benefits of eating food which is locally produced as well as food which is produced with environmental sustainability in mind. These are all good things, in my view. But the poultry industry is still a behemoth - it will be hard to make significant changes to a $20 billion/year industry that uses over 100 billion pounds of feed/grain/year. (See above USDA link)
If you are interested in making a difference, I would suggest you first educate yourself. Here are a couple good links to check out: http://www.goveg.com/ui_chickens.asp or http://www.eggindustry.com/. A video about animal rights can be seen here (it may be extremely upsetting - so don't watch it if you are put off by video or images involving animal cruelty): http://www.earthlings.com/. If you choose to continue eating eggs, please consider buying only free-range, cage-free, locally produced eggs, and moderate your consumption if possible.
The benefits will include improved health outcomes for those who consume eggs, better work conditions for laborers, improved environment, and if I can be a little bit selfish, perhaps more menu choices in the future that feature egg-free entrees in restaurants. I know that my views are in the minority (only perhaps 1% of Americans are vegan, and probably most of them are not living in the Midwest), but I still feel an obligation to share my views even if they are not generally acceptable.
