The Taste of Fear

This morning, I treated myself to a Toad in a Hole. Or a sunnysideup egg cooked into a piece of bread. Usually the process looks something like this:


You can imagine my surprise when, after cracking my egg a little orange yolk plopped down into my toast. This little neon-bright orange bugger stared back at me, taunting me. Though it made me a little uncomfortable, blinding hunger forced my hand--gobbling up the aberrant freak of nature. The taste? A little unusual but, I conceded, if I ate fast I could barely taste it anyways.

Later, after a little research, I discovered that eggs with orange yolks come from free-range chickens and allegedly have a "richer" taste. While a majority of sources cite diet as the primary difference in color, there were a couple outliers claiming that (I paraphrase) "the stress suffered by confined hens dilutes the color from the egg--resulting in a pale yellow yolk and a more subtle flavor".

But I, as always, have my own theory. The free-range diet theory, based in "science" is ridiculous. I don't even think the flavor is richer. Richer implies more of the same, like the flavor would be stronger or more concentrated. I believe, the flavor is completely distinct. The difference? Not stress, but fear. Back home, our eggs are infused with the delectable taste that can only come from utter terror--and I like it.