Inflation is driving up the price of just about everything these days. But there’s something about the price of eggs on supermarket shelves that upsets people. “It feels particularly unsettling,” says anthropology professor Cathy Stanton of Tufts University in the US. She said the price increases reflect a confluence of crises, from the spread of avian flu H5N1 and increased fuel costs, to supply chain disruptions and corporate price gouging.
This isn’t the first time the price of eggs has skyrocketed. During the mid-19th-century gold rush, San Francisco’s population ballooned from around 800 to more than 20,000, creating a scarcity of chicken eggs that hiked their price to nearly $1 per egg—the equivalent of $30 per egg today. This increased demand for another type of egg: that of the murre, a seabird inhabiting the nearby Farallones Islands. Poachers flocked to the islands and boats transporting eggs were hijacked, resulting in an “egg war” that endured for 30 years. It all points to the benefits of staying out of supermarkets if you want fresh food.
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