The True Cost of Things

"OMG, you paid FIVE DOLLARS for those eggs?"

I, too, am affected by the Wal-mart must-get-everything-as-cheaply-as-possible-to-hell-with-everyone-else, and for a second I did think, "Oooh, I'm crazy to spend so much on eggs."

However, these are fresh, unwashed eggs I get from Xiong, one of the organic farmers at the Brown weekly farmer's market. Now, when I picture her raising all her cool veggies (flowering Asian broccoli a huge favorite of ours) and the work that must go into raising these chickens, I think, would *I* do that just for five bucks for a carton of all that hard work?

These eggs are so fresh from the chicken's butt we do not refrigerate them. The yolks stand up at attention. And yes, I eat them the Korean way, semi-raw, and do not worry about salmonella. Oh, and did I mention they are delicious, probably because the chickens run around eating bugs and grubs and things they are supposed to? Five bucks for a dozen actually seems unconscionably cheap to me. I'm going to tell my friend to think about it, next time she gets a dozen pale, tasteless, dead eggs for two bucks at theh Stop N Shop.

Who has the better deal?