I wrote this column last spring, right around this time. Eggs should be cheap again within a week or two, so a reprint seemed in order. You'll notice this isn't a strictly low carb column, but the recipe sure is, if you use the recipe for Almond-Parmesan crust:

As I write this, I have a dozen cartons of eggs in my refrigerator. Why? Because they were three cartons for a buck. At that price, we can eat a lot of eggs! We like them fried, scrambled, and in omelets. But to turn eggs into supper, there's nothing like quiche.

Thanks to the French name, and the 1980s book "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche," quiche has a reputation as foofy girly food. Hah! Quiche is simply egg-and-cheese pie, often with ham or bacon thrown in. That's some solid eating. It's easy to make, infinitely variable, and reheats well. What's not to love?

Let's talk about pork.

It's hard to think of a more controversial meat than pork. On the one hand, it's beloved by many cultures. Ever since the Chinese domesticated the wild boar about 2900 BC, pork has been the most popular meat in Chinese cooking, and pork agriculture has spread around the world. The economics of pork argue strongly in its favor; just feed a pig your waste or let them forage in the woods, and you'll be able to use "everything but the squeal." The Irish dubbed the pig "The gentleman who pays the rent," and many pioneer families counted on a pig not only for protein, but for lard to use where we would use oil, butter, or (heaven forbid) hydrogenated shortening.

I have to make what is, for a food writer, an embarrassing confession: my favorite fish, far and away, is canned tuna.

Yep, canned tuna, stuff of school lunchroom sandwiches and casseroles made with goopy canned mushroom soup. Love the stuff. Love, love, love the stuff. And I'm not alone. Tuna is the third most commonly purchased foodstuff in the country, after sugar and coffee. Canned tuna is served in more than ninety percent of American households, and accounts for fully twenty percent of all fish and seafood consumed in the US. That's a lot of tuna!

Let's start with the bad: Much canned tuna has dangerously high levels of mercury. This is no joke. Mercury is a neurotoxin, highly poisonous stuff. Even worse, it can cause truly hideous birth defects. If you're pregnant or planning to become pregnant, you should probably shun tuna entirely. And if you've been giving your children tuna several times a week, you need to know that a forty-five pound child eating just one six-ounce can of white tuna per week will be getting more than four times as much mercury as is considered safe. Mercury can cause learning and behavioral problems, and permanent neurological damage. Maybe they'd like egg salad or chicken salad, or even peanut butter?