The Taste of Eggy Pleasures

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? This is one of the oldest questions ever. And there’s been no satisfying answer so far. The practical Chinese would say: whatever, let’s eat first. Philosophical ideas always find inspiration at the dinner table.

Eggs have been served in the Chinese cuisine for thousands of years, eggs from all animals: pigeons, quails, chickens, ducks, geese and ostriches… The clever Chinese have invented so many different ways of preparing this simple ingredient. Those which you are familiar with, such as fried eggs, scramble eggs, steamed eggs, poached eggs, hard boiled eggs, or omelettes; those which you are not so familiar with, such as salted eggs, tea eggs, smoked eggs, iron eggs; and then there are those which are even a bit weird, such as virgin boy eggs (also called pee-pee eggs), thousand-year-old eggs … Especially this last one, it was nominated as “the most disgusting food” in the world by CNN in 2011. This aroused a huge roar among egg production enterprises in China against CNN, and upset people (as well as stomachs). Eventually CNN had to make an official apology to calm the angry Chinese.

This “notorious” thousand-year-old egg is also known as a century egg, millennium egg or pine-patterned egg. It is in reality not that old, but it IS a kind of preserved egg, another creation invented by accident but popularized due to lack of refrigeration as well as its special flavour. During times of plenty, people coat their fresh eggs with a mixture of rice husk, salt, clay, ash, quicklime, etc. and keep them in a sealed jar or a basket for weeks to months depending on the method. As a result of a chemical process, these eggs are cured and turn into something different: the yolk takes on a creamy consistency and a greenish colour; the white becomes a transparent dark brown jelly, sometimes with a few snowflake-like patterns on their outside surface. Which is where the name pine-patterned egg comes from. This “disgusting” looking egg is a favourite among the Chinese from north to south. You’ll find it in cold dishes, in congees, in stir-fries, and if you are brave enough, you should give it a try. It has a flavour that grows on you.

Not only in the kitchen have eggs played an important role in China, but they have also become an integral part of people’s social lives and culture. A “red egg”, for example, is distributed to friends and neighbours when a family has a new born baby. We call it xidan (喜蛋, literally happy egg). In this respect, the East and the West have something in common, i.e., eggs are a symbol of life. Therefore, we are not surprised to see people enjoying the tradition of painting and sharing Easter Eggs in Western culture. In Chinese culture, at about the same time of the year, some time in April, we also celebrate a festival known as “Tomb Sweeping Day” by eating and sharing boiled eggs with family, friends and colleagues. On both occasions, we embrace life and spring. 

In the Chinese language, the egg is also used in many interesting expressions: huai dan (坏蛋), literally a rotten egg, refers to a bad guy; hun dan (混蛋), turbid egg, means a jerk; chun dan or ben dan (蠢蛋, 笨蛋), literally means silly egg and refers to a thickhead. Today, if a Chinese kid tells you that he just ate a duck egg (吃鸭蛋, chi yadan), you’d better not congratulate him; instead, you should warn him to be careful with his dad in the evening. Eating a duck egg in Chinese means getting a zero on an exam. If someone’s presence really annoys you and you can’t bear to see him anymore, then it’s time to tell him “gun dan” (滚蛋), which literary means rolling egg, though in this case, you are actually telling him to “get lost”! 

It is probably time for me to “roll” as well, but before I say goodbye, I wonder whether after all this chatting, you have now got a somewhat better idea about which came to the earth first: the egg or the chicken?