Why Nikki Glaser Will By no means Eat Eggs Once more

Comic Nikki Glaser formally eradicated eggs from her weight loss program in 2016. Now, practically a decade later, she’s lending her voice to some of the sweeping international campaigns ever mounted towards industrial egg manufacturing. However as an alternative of shock ways or aggressive activism, the roast queen and 2025 Golden Globes host helps the motion shift its tone.

The marketing campaign—a brief movie produced by the Open Wing Alliance—paperwork egg farms in 35 international locations. Glaser narrates the piece in a quiet, deliberate register. “From North America to Asia, Europe to Africa, South America to Australia—no nation, no firm utilizing cages is protected from what we discovered,” she says within the movie. The message is evident: it’s time to rethink the system behind some of the on a regular basis meals on the earth.

Troubling findings on egg farms

Open Wing Alliance, a coalition of greater than 100 nonprofits centered on animal welfare and provide chain reform, coordinated the investigation. It additionally organized a companion letter signed by greater than 100 celebrities calling on meals giants like Walmart, Krispy Kreme, and Encourage Manufacturers to get rid of cages from their egg provide chains. The coalition stresses that such transitions should be measurable, clear, and independently verified to imply something past advertising and marketing.

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Eggs stay a staple throughout cultures, but their provide chains are among the many least clear. Every year, greater than eight billion hens are utilized in international egg manufacturing. Based on World Animal Safety, roughly 60 % of them are confined to cages, situations that prohibit motion and fundamental pure behaviors. 

Within the US, practically two-thirds of hens stay in caged environments regardless of client demand for cage-free alternate options. In China, the world’s largest egg producer, cage techniques are nonetheless normal.

Utilizing her platform for good

Glaser’s lengthy been open about her vegan weight loss program however has not often used her platform to market it. Her commentary on meals techniques tends to reach much less as a callout and extra as a mirrored image. “I simply want people had extra empathy for animals,” she stated on The Faculty of Greatness podcast. “What we’re doing to [them] just isn’t proper.”

Per Veganuary, it was her personal “beloved” parakeet, named Kiwi, who helped Glaser surrender animal merchandise for good. “I satisfied myself that egg-laying chickens and dairy cows had nice lives,” she stated. “Deep down, I knew that wasn’t the case … I Googled what I wanted to, and that was that.” ⁠It’s the identical story for a lot of; Alicia Silverstone has additionally spoken of how her pets helped her see the reality within the meat trade, as has musician Moby, who additionally signed the Open Wing Alliance’s marketing campaign letter.

Nikki Glaser

Glaser’s sense of empathy threads by way of the movie, which avoids graphic imagery and as an alternative favors a extra meditative method. Glaser doesn’t push a message of ethical purity. There’s no dietary directive. The tone suggests a shift not in content material, however in consciousness, towards a deeper consciousness of the place meals comes from and what it prices to supply.

Glaser has described her weight loss program as one which facilities kindness over rigidity. On SiriusXM, she referred to herself as a “mild vegan,” noting that the best way a message is delivered typically issues as a lot because the message itself. “Nobody desires to be yelled at,” she stated. In a lighter second throughout an interview with Goop, she joked that she’d solely take into account leech detox remedy “if the leeches have been having fun with it.”

Reshaping the egg trade

The Open Wing marketing campaign additionally explores how one thing as acquainted as an egg holds financial and symbolic worth throughout cultures. From avenue distributors in Jakarta to pastry kitchens in Paris, eggs function a common shorthand for nourishment and luxury. But more and more, shoppers are asking what lies inside that shell. 

There are alternate options; the worldwide egg substitutes market was valued at greater than $1.2 billion in 2022 and is projected to develop steadily by way of 2030, pushed partially by youthful generations looking for alternate options that align with their values.

“Eggs are thought of each important and reasonably priced, so firms hesitate to cross the price of reform on to shoppers,” says an Open Wing Alliance spokesperson. This stress between entry and ethics continues to form how provide chains evolve.

Simply Egg

Whereas the marketing campaign highlights animal welfare, it additionally touches on broader implications. Ellie Ponders, senior director of world company engagement at Open Wing Alliance, says the dangers lengthen past ethics. “It’s a ticking time bomb for public well being and company danger,” she stated, referencing the hyperlink between intensive animal agriculture and zoonotic illness unfold.

The warning isn’t summary. A 2023 evaluation from the United Nations Setting Program recognized industrial farming as a prime driver of future pandemics. Within the US alone, greater than 80 million birds have been culled attributable to avian influenza outbreaks, in accordance with the USDA, and these disruptions have pushed egg costs to historic highs.

Regulatory progress varies by area. The European Union banned standard battery cages in 2012 however nonetheless permits furnished cages. Australia has pledged a whole phaseout by 2036. Within the US, states like California and Massachusetts have enacted cage-free legal guidelines, but nationwide laws stays stalled. Many company pledges to go cage-free by 2025 are approaching their deadlines with little exterior verification.

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The movie doesn’t dwell on these inconsistencies. It merely asks viewers to rethink this staple. The query posed isn’t whether or not to eat them—it’s whether or not the techniques producing them nonetheless mirror the values of the folks consuming them.

Response to the movie suggests it’s resonating. Shared broadly throughout social platforms, Glaser’s narration has sparked dialog amongst audiences who could not sometimes have interaction with meals system reform. Her Instagram put up concerning the marketing campaign drew 1000’s of likes and feedback, many from followers stunned to be taught concerning the realities of world egg sourcing.

“It seems, the value tag is the least surprising factor about eggs,” says Glaser. “What investigators documented throughout greater than 35 international locations will make you query all the things.”