Eggs

[Hazelsqueak]

It's been a while since I've read all the books, but from the ones I've reread so far, the only animals that eat eggs are vermin. A decent creature wouldn't steal the unborn babies of a bird, would they? That's pretty much the same thing as eating a bird.

As far as animal products go, the Redwallers eat honey and certain kinds of fish. I remember a hedgehog named Spriggat that ate bugs. But that's it. No eggs. So I think it's odd that so many Redwall recipes (from fans and even the Official Redwall Cookbook) contain eggs. I don't think they eat eggs at Redwall!

Oh well. I suppose vermin need recipes too. 

[The Grey Coincidence]

I don't think the Redwallers ate eggs- but they do have pillows stuffed with bird feathers and... if You think about that for long enough you get a liiiiittle bit suspicious.
Also, some humans eat eggs, and while *I* am veganextremist enough to agree and call it evil... it's not really? Mammals, birds, and reptiles are different species, with different levels of anthropomorphism and the eating of a bird egg by a vermin in Redwall, is not that different from what humans do (in fact- you could argue vermin are better since they don't rear birds for their eggs/slaughter).
So eating an egg in Redwall/ real life doesn't make you vermin. I'm pretty sure the mice would do it too if mice ate eggs irl and it wouldn't be considered 'verminous'.
Also, for the recipes, if you don't want to use eggs for whatever reason (vegan, allergic etc etc) you can literally just add them out and find (perhaps to your surprise) that eggs don't *really* do much for a recipe.
Maybe I'm a little biased here XD

[Hazelsqueak]

I think in the Redwall universe, stealing bird eggs and eating them is pretty evil. The eggs are most likely fertilized, so there is always a chance there is a developing baby bird inside instead of just a yolk. :X A vermin wouldn't care because they kill and eat adult birds too. 

As far as bird feathers go, those would be easy enough to collect from empty nests and such. Redwallers would not have to kill anybeast to get those.

Off topic: I currently don't eat eggs either. I hate factory farming and I don't know anyone with pet chickens to buy eggs from.

[The Grey Coincidence]

Well yes- but isn't that *technically* just as 'evil' as what humans do in real life? Why does anthropomorphism make so much of a difference? I kind of get what you mean- that because they walk and talk and are Funny Animals (well, the vermin and woodlanders are anyways) the stealing of eggs looks much worse than it does in real life where chickens are 'less intelligent' and 'just animals'. So maybe it's not exactly the same as what humans do collecting chicken eggs and eating those- a better analogy would be eating baby aliens- which yeah, is pretty evil.
Although woodlanders eat fish- another anthropomorphic species. So they're not exactly morally-superior in this case.
In the case of bird feathers... That's an explenation I accept (although it is a bit uncanny considering how many pillows there are, and blankets too come to think of it...) I think I'll add this to my fanfic pile- a bunch of abbeydwellers go feather-collecting, what could possibly go wrong?
(Except maybe the owner of said nest doesn't like their nest being tampered with)
(Or some dumb wearet mistakes them for a bird...)
Ahem, Vegan Agenda: Yeah, I've never eaten an egg before But like I said- any recipe (EVEN MERINGUES!!!!!) can be made without eggs.

[The Skarzs]

I may be wrong, but I believe eggs basically act like a "glue". A cake made without eggs wouldn't necessarily look or taste different, but unless a substitute is put in, it would probably be more crumbly.

[The Grey Coincidence]

I won't pretend to be an expert since most of the recipes I use tend to not have eggs in them to begin with- but a bit more water (roughly about half an eggs worth) should provide the same texture. Alternatively you could use some factory-made egg replacements- but i don't know how they work or what they do or how to use them since I never do use them, I just know that they exist. Yoghurt is also an option.

[Ungatt Trunn]

It seems like if one analyzes the world of Redwall enough, there are a few hints at rather subtle "cannibalism" - or at least an imbalance between the different animal species. They do eat a lot of fish, but it's made pretty clear in the series that fish aren't considered on the "same level" as all the other types of animals are. Birds are a slightly more complex situation - there are several points in Redwall where vermin eat birds (and eggs, I think?), evidently without giving a  thought to their "anthropomorphic value" as fellow sentient creatures. This particular "horror" is never addressed directly in the series (as far as I can remember), so it does all seem rather up-in-the-air where this case falls in the overarching moral realm of Redwall. If it is an absolutely horrible and "inhumane" thing to eat a bird in the Redwall universe, then why is it never addressed as such? If it isn't, then nothing really makes sense as far as morality goes within the Redwall world. I don't know, it's definitely an interesting question...

[DanielofRedwall]

Hey all, let's remember to keep this discussion Redwall-specific rather than discuss veganism in general.

[The Grey Coincidence]

Yes yes Mr Daniel.
In regards to what Ungratt said, well, the imbalance in animal species is mostly due to the imbalance in intelligence levels- birds, fish and reptiles aren't as anthropomorphic as the mammals of the Redwall-verse, so it's not exactly 'cannibalism' as they arent the same species- it'd be like... eating an alien? That does sound morally wrong yes (and it is) but in the Redwall verse it isn't treated as such because a) some of the aliens, such as pike, swans, eagles etc would more than happily eat them back and b) well, these animals do eat each other (and eggs) in real life.
It isn't morally wrong because they're different enough in both culture and sentience- so the analogy of real life meat-eating (Yes, Daniel I know, but it's still kinda Redwall-related here... I think)  works.

[Hazelsqueak]

I think it is implied in the Redwall books that eating eggs and birds is cruel/evil since only vermin do it, and the Redwallers often make friends with birds such as sparrows and owls. I can imagine their bird friends donating feathers for pillows.

[The Grey Coincidence]

Hmm, gonna have to brush up on the books, but not sure...

[Jack the Quick]

Redwallers were horrified at the thought of someone eating eggs, as they thought that it was like eating a bird. They found bird feathers for their pillows, they didn't kill them.

[The Grey Coincidence]

*Can you provide textual evidence, please?*

[Jack the Quick]

The feather part is an assumption, I remember from several books that eating eggs was a horrifying thought. Sorry, I can't provide any books in particular.

[Time]

Having recipes that contain eggs in the cookbook? The author probably just didn't think about the implications it would have.

As for the Abbeydwellers, they probably just use a substitute when they eat baking, like how they use greensap instead of cows milk. Substitutes are easy to find.