For Michael and Kevin – known as ‘The Puddings’ – making Christmas plum puddings comes with a lot of family tradition and love. Their pudding-making business, Pudding Lane, is one of the busiest in the lead up to Christmas, but it is continuing these traditions and sharing them with their customers that they are truly passionate about. One of these being the prize-winning recipe which was passed down from Kevin’s great nan – a key ingredient is the use of local free-range eggs.
In 2010, RSPCA Australia awarded Pudding Lane a Good Egg Award. It was recognition for their use of cage-free eggs in their puddings. At the time they were a trailblazer for sourcing cage-free eggs in manufactured goods. And in many ways, they still are today.
Cage eggs are well and truly on the way out, thanks to overwhelming community opposition to housing hens in battery cages. However, more than 60% of Australia’s eggs are still laid by hens confined to barren battery cages – that’s more than 10 million hens who can’t stretch, flap their wings, scratch or lay their eggs in a nest.
While the majority of grocery buyers are choosing cage free – barn laid or free range – when they’re in the egg aisle, many are still unknowingly consuming cage eggs when they’re dining out or in the manufactured goods they choose.
It’s good eggs like Michael and Kevin who are changing this though. And as more and more businesses that manufacture goods look to source higher welfare ingredients, it can only get better for hens.
We all have an important role to play too though. If you eat eggs, by choosing products farmed to higher welfare standards and supporting farming practices that prioritise animal welfare, we can all make a positive difference to the way farm animals are treated.
So, if a pudding is a must to end your Christmas feast, and you’ve left it too late to make your own (because you should’ve been doing that 2 weeks ago) make sure it’s one that uses cage-free eggs, like Michael and Kevin do.
Find out more about Pudding Lane by visiting puddinglane.com.au.
You might also be interested in Christmas conversation starters about farm animals and Teaching kids to care about farm animals when learning to cook
