You’re a smart egg. You do the right thing and take care of yourself. But take no offense, are you an egg head?
Don’t answer, just yet.
Perhaps the oldest and most profound question human kind still contemplates today is which came first – the chicken or the egg. The very debate establishes the egg as the “thinking” man’s—and women’s, food.
Throughout history, the egg has symbolically been used to explain our existence. For example, ancient Egyptians believed the earth hatched from an egg. Plant life came from seeds; but mammalian life’s origins were less clear in ancient times. At one point, mice were thought to spontaneously reproduce by placing one dirty shirt and a few kernels of grain in a sealed jar. ** Wait 21 days and viola! Hmmm…maybe it was starvation, not curiosity, that killed the cats. But with time, the egg was understood to represent fertility, reproduction, birth and new life.
And, many calendars historically renew with spring. The Chinese, Iranians, Greeks and Romans celebrated the spring equinox – their new year, by hanging and giving colored eggs and by the 4thcentury – buried eggs with the dead to symbolically wish a the dead’s soul a heavenly journey into the afterlife. Adopting eggs as symbols of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus, just made sense.
Even in the Middle Ages, humans knew eggs were a rich source of sustenance, and along with meat were not eaten during lent. This didn’t stop the hens from laying, which added up to a stock pile of eggs by the time Easter came around. Then, the farmers used the eggs to help pay their rent and feed the people. They were cook, consecrated, colored – traditionally red the color of Jesus’ blood, joy and new life, and gifted on Easter.
Colorfully beautiful this time of year, eggs are a complete source of the most naturally occurring bioavailable protein. Less recognized, the egg yolk contains the nutrient choline. Often grouped with B vitamins because of their similarities, choline is involved in numerous metabolic reactions in our bodies. Choline forms acetycholine, a neurotransmitter which helps our nervous system, mood and memory. The adequate intake for adult men is 550 mg and women is 425 mg of choline a day. Surpassed by 3-ounces of beef liver containing 356 mg of choline, one large hardboiled egg delivers 145 mgs.
Have an egg, it’s no-brainer!
Perfect hardboiled eggs are easy and great t have around for the week.
**How ironic that in 2018 the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the creation of two female mice using modified egg genomes and stem cells. The findings are published in journal Cell Stem Cell.