The eggs hunt, by Nili Fainguelernt, Israel

The days of Corona, a global plague that paralyzed the world. Restless cities have become desolate, massive economies are at risk of collapsing, and it is felt everywhere. Israel’s tempo and atmosphere are the Prime Minister’s daily speech, the countless articles published in all the newspapers and in the alerts that news applications provide notifying on any increase in the number of patients or those who have died from the disease.

Everyone deals with this situation differently, but there is one thing that seems common to almost everyone – stress and anxiety. One of their forms of expression is hoarding. In Australia, two women beat each other over toilet paper, and in France, the shops ran out of wine. In Israel, we have come across a new shortage, a shortage of eggs. 

The Israeli Broadcasting has released a video trying to explain the psychologic aspects of hoarding. The main argument that came out in the same video is that it gives people a sense of comfort and confidence to have enough essential products. When I watched it first, I could not relate much. But while there is no shortage of toilet paper, there is a shortage of eggs. I’m not a Christian, but this year I went Easter-egg hunting around the neighbourhood where I live. And fortunately, I lived through some moments that would be great to share in future parties when it’s all be over, even though I haven’t seen any bunnies.

 I thought that networking was famous for finding a job, it turned out to be important in a supermarket search as well. The first time I searched for eggs, I innocently strolled to three local supermarkets and left empty-handed. Coming home disappointed, I decided to use some crowd wisdom, or as we call it today – Facebook. I asked my friends for any leads on eggs, and upon getting a few clues I was the lucky owner of one batch!

I must confess, I haven’t bought any eggs in the past few months. It’s only as others started expressing a need for it I felt like I need to have some as well. The fact that Passover is approaching, where many foods contain eggs, also fueled my stress.

A few days later, I decided to buy another pack because I knew the shops would be closed during the holiday. Once again, I went on a trip, my roommate had already taken a tour and found out that Meir’s grocery store would be getting a delivery in an hour! I set the timer for one hour and then left, the eggs were still missing. I came home and decided to cook a recipe I wanted, the vegan way. Today, everything has a substitute. But I didn’t have the desired substitute, so I paid Meir’s grocery store another visit. As I walked in, I had my eyes on the entire store, hoping to catch that brown package the whole country craves, but I didn’t see anything. I asked for some things and also asked if the eggs had come by any chance, only to be disappointed. A moment later, Meir, the man himself looked into both direction, and as the coast was clear, he slipped one batch of forbidden eggs into my shopping bag. I paid, quickly left the store and raised my arms in triumph.

A week later, I still had some eggs in the fridge, but rumour had it that the nearest grocery store had delivered eggs half an hour ago. The urge woke up again. I NEED MORE. I need to make sure I have enough. Without hesitation, I put on my shoes and went out to Meir’s and confidently asked where the eggs were. In response, I was presented me with a list of at least 20 names who had already reserved the rights for the white gold. I came back the next day, arrived at the store and approached the counter confidently (As if I’m on the VIP list for a party) and said: “Hello, I’m on the waiting list for the eggs”. it was a different salesman, he had no idea what I was talking about, but luckily he had a box of eggs. So now, as the proud owner of 18 eggs, let me know if you need some, I’m sure we can find a deal that fits both sides.

My conclusions from this story are first, vegan food is not so bad, and secondly, only when I wrote down this story, I realize I needed this eggs for much more than a cake, I needed to feel comfort and peace of mind, and I felt it after I found what I’ve been looking for, but who knows maybe in few days I’ll find something new to look for, just to have that secure feeling again. we are all going through a hard time, and I know that is what I need to make it through so I keep on, and my advice to you is don’t deny the stress, face the struggle, and use whatever can help you reduce it, eventually, everything will be ok.

This op-ed was written by Nili, a student of the YaLa Academy, during our last semester of Citizen Journalism. During this time, most of our students were under lockdown in their country.