830. Doing fine without Hebrew.

Sometimes, when I am grocery shopping in Israel I am reminded of a moment when I was in the 1st grade.

My teacher was standing in front of the class reading from the same book each of us students had. I couldn't follow what she was saying because I was overwhelmed with anxiety or fear that I didn't know how to read and a serious doubt that I ever would. (Neuroticism starts early.) If it weren't for the illustrations of Dick, Jane, and activities they were engaged in at the top of each page, I would have been completely lost in class that day.

It is with the same good fortune that I'm not completely lost while grocery shopping here in this Hebrew country. My shopping list mostly consists of fruit and vegetables, meats, pasta, rice, yogurt, and eggs. The fresh fruit and vegetables don't need labels; what you see is what you get. The packaged meat is usually pretty obvious and when it's not, it usually doesn't matter much--for example hot dogs and lunch meat, they are always mysterious no matter where you are in the world.

For fish or fresh cuts of meat, I have yet to encounter a butcher who didn't know his stuff in English. As for the other food, if they aren't in clear packaging, there is usually a picture of the contents or its flavor on the package.

Mainly I encounter problems for cleaning products. It is always a hunt to find products with some sort of graphical representation on the bottle or with an English description.

All of this is to say that I've become much more aware of food packaging, and without familiar brands to judge quality, I often rely on the message that the graphics are communicating to me.

I'll show you what I mean. As a general rule, I prefer free-range, organic eggs from chickens who are happy and not abused. Which carton below best communicates care and concern for their hens and egg quality?

Which egg carton would you buy?

a) The one with a hen who is proudly holding a carton of a dozen eggs, who looks like she is about to personally introduce you to each egg?





b) The carton with a singing rooster? (He seems happy, if not too caught up with his singing to be concerned about his egg.)




c) The one with a real chicken and 3 proud white eggs? (Note that there are only 10 eggs in this carton.)




d) The one with a carefree chicken deftly and carelessly tossing her egg into the air?




d) The carton depicting a good mother hen counting her eggs before they've hatched?




One thing is certain: it's not easy being an egg.