‘Eggflation’: Headlines Get Creative on Egg Price Coverage

Sometimes, the news is fun. 

In the last few weeks, headline writers from across the news media embellished their coverage of record-high egg prices with puns, wordplay, and other egg-ceptionally savvy lines. 

We’ve gathered some of those headlines here: 

“Egg-flation”

By far the most popular eggs-ample of egg-related word choice was “egg-flation,” continuing a long trend of putting words before “-flation” in inflation-related headlines — including “Biden-flation,” a recent favorite of the political right. 

• Eggflation? Social media post scrambles the facts on high egg prices (PolitiFact, Lean Left bias)
• ‘Eggflation’ hammering New York, southwest states the hardest (New York Post, Lean Right bias)
• Hold the Champagne (Brunch). Egg-flation Isn’t Over, or Easy (Bloomberg, Lean Left bias)
• Farm group demands price-gouging probe into ‘egg-flation’ (Washington Times, Lean Right bias)
• ‘Eggflation’ is the new name for your supermarket pain. Here’s what’s causing it (Fast Company, Not Rated)
• Egg-flation: Prices explode thanks to bird flu and scrambled supply chains (Washington Examiner, Lean Right bias) 

“Egg-scape”

“Egg-scape” was another unique play on the “eggs-” prefix. It has a history, too — Rolling Stone (Left bias) used it in a headline about Late Late Show host James Corden’s October 2022 outburst at a New York City restaurant. It was applied eggs-pertly by Axios on Monday:

• Egg-scape from high prices with your own chickens (Axios, Center bias)

“Egg-streme”

Another great use of the “egg-” prefix was “egg-streme” — a perfect mix of sensationalism and humor. Unfortunately, Fox Business appeared to forget that “extreme” ends in “-eme,” not “eam,” but they made up for it with their opening line: “Americans are flocking to the chicken coop – literally.”

• Americans taking 'egg-stream' measures to crack inflation (Fox Business, Lean Right bias) 
• 'Egg-streme': Egg prices double (WKBW, Not Rated)

Eggshells

Some headlines included the word “shell”:

• Shelling out too much on eggs? Surging prices could lead to increase in backyard coops (WLOS, Not Rated)
• (Egg)shell shock: Avian flu, gas prices and more contributing to high price of eggs (Daily Hampshire Gazette, Not Rated)
• Shell shock: Egg prices put strain on small businesses (Spectrum News 1, Not Rated)

Honorable Mentions

Others found all sorts of creative ways to use egg-related words in headlines. One favorite was working the word “cracked” into various phrases. 

• The Bill Gates egg shortage conspiracy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be (PolitiFact, Lean Left bias) 
• Cracking egg prices: Avian Flu still impacting supply but relief may be on the way (Food Ingredients 1st, Not Rated)
• Can You Find Eggs Here or There? Can You Find Them Anywhere? (New York Times, Lean Left bias)
• Why high egg prices remain at “unappetizing levels” (Axios, Center bias)
• US egg prices boil over as avian flu and feed costs hit supplies (Financial Times, Center bias)
   

Of course, global avian flu outbreaks are no joke — over 43 million chickens were lost in the U.S. in 2022 alone, rocking the poultry industry. 

(That sounds like a lot, but the U.S. consumes roughly 8 billion chickens every year, so your craving for McNuggets is far more dangerous to them than getting sick!)

However, our ability to joke about the news is partly a product of our insulation from its consequences. Eggs are a relatively small part of most people’s lives, so there’s room for levity. We covered some of the serious aspects of this story in our Headline Roundup on Monday.
 

Joseph Ratliff is a Daily News Editor at AllSides. He has a Lean Left bias. 

This blog was reviewed by Isaiah Anthony (Center Bias) and Managing Editor Henry A. Brechter (Center bias).