From the Poultry Editor: February-March 2014

The holidays are a wonderful time of year, full of the sentiments that should last the whole year through.

In their wake come a lot of creative and yummy turkey recipes. Unfortunately, the holidays are usually also followed by endless lineups to take back the gifts that don’t fit – or were simply bad choices. Aside from getting back to normal life, we’re faced with decisions like whether to actually grow that Chia Uncle Si or regift it at the earliest possible opportunity.

If you’ve realized that we’re now three months into 2014 and you haven’t yet decided what to do with the cash, cheques and gift cards that you grossed over the holidays, why not go out and grab yourself a copy of Eggs in Your Life (EIYL), by Peter Surai and Ray Noble?

This little paperback, published in 2013, was lent to me by Peter Hunton, who often writes for Canadian Poultry. The copy was gifted directly to Peter by his close friend Surai. When Peter sent it along to me, he attached a handwritten note: “Lianne – would like this back when you are finished with it. P”.  

That was last summer…but I still have it. That’s because EIYL isn’t a book that you read once and shelve indefinitely. It’s a reference book. And, well, I don’t want to give it back.

EIYL touches on every egg-related topic imaginable: The role of the egg in human nutrition; its structure; how eggs are laid; the cholesterol debate; free-range versus conventional cages; organic eggs; what countries produce and consume the most eggs. It’s all there, and more.  

Not only that, but it’s full of useless-yet-interesting anecdotes like “Bizarre Things People do with Eggs.” If you were impressed when Cool Hand Luke ate 50 of the hard-boiled type in an hour, then check out 43-year-old Sonya Thomas’s record.

“When I first read this book, I was at a loss to describe its target audience, and the authors could not help,” says Peter. “It contains a wealth of useful and valuable information, but for whom? It is somewhere above the head of the average consumer. We can wish that doctors, dieticians, teachers and other pundits who influence people’s decisions about food would read it, but there can be no assurance that they will.

“Egg farmers and others in the industry will enjoy it because they are familiar with some of the content, but will surely learn a great deal more from the authors’ very wide range of information presented. It may end up as the egg industry’s responsibility to get the book to those in positions of influence (the abovementioned pundits) and this would be a worthwhile effort. I certainly believe that readers of Canadian Poultry would enjoy the book.”

So if you think that eggnog is the only liquor derived from The Perfect Protein, you’d better turn straight to page 118.

Happy reading!

Editorial changes

Kristy Nudds resumes her role as Editor of Canadian Poultry magazine, following her maternity leave.  

Lianne Appleby moves to the new position of Digital Editor – AgAnnex with lead responsibilities for the digital division of Annex Business Media’s agricultural publications.

Lianne will represent AgAnnex at a cross-section of agricultural events.