This summer, an unexpected topic made its way into kitchens: eggs. Between repeated heatwaves and sometimes sparse shelves, many people ask the same question when baking a cake: "what if there were no more eggs?"

Let's take stock, calmly and with the real figures. Then let's look at the good news: cooking without eggs, today, no longer means sacrificing taste.

What's really happening this summer

The heat doesn't just tire us out. It also affects laying hens, and therefore egg production. Specifically, three effects combine: hens eat less when it's very hot, so they lay less; eggs can be smaller, with more fragile shells; and in some farms, increased mortality is observed during the most intense peaks.

Why heat causes egg production to drop

There's a simple biological reason. A hen already lives, under normal conditions, with a body temperature of around 41.5°C. And unlike us, she doesn't sweat. To cool down, she pants, reduces her activity, and especially eats less. But less food means less energy to produce one egg per day. This simple mechanism explains the drop in volumes when temperatures stay above 30°C for several days in a row.

So, a real shortage or not ?

Let's be honest, because that's what you really want to know. At this stage, professionals in the industry are reassuring: store supply remains guaranteed and no generalized shortage is announced. The president of the CNPO summarized it simply by ensuring that everyone will find eggs on the shelves.

So, there's no need to panic or hoard. What to remember is rather a tension: declining volumes, eggs sometimes rarer or smaller depending on the location, and vigilance in the coming months, as the corn harvest is expected to be lower and could make chicken feed more expensive.

No shortage. But a good time to discover that you can cook very well in other ways.

The opportunity to try cooking without eggs

Many people have never tried cooking without eggs, simply because they never needed to. And when they do, the surprise is often the same: it works, and it's just as good. Eggs, in cooking, actually play several distinct roles. They bind, they leaven, they add moelleux, they whip into a foam, they thicken. The good news is that for each of these roles, there is now a reliable plant-based solution.

Need inspiration to get started? Take a look at our egg-free cookies, or our egg-free omelette for savory dishes.

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