An Egg is For Life - Not Just For Easter

By Jamie Ogilvie

At this particular time of year everyone is probably thinking about eggs - the glossy chocolate variety that are usually encased in a large quantity of cardboard and plastic packaging or sometimes billowing cellophane with a big fancy bow. I've had eggs on my mind most of this year for a very different reason.

My 7 year old daughters' teacher (who will remain nameless) apparently spent the whole of his Christmas holidays building his own chicken coop in his yard and when back to school in January he decided to share his chicken raising passion with every little girl in class 2a.

So we've had the chicken coop, a pre-built one, I may add, for 5 weeks now and we have a mixed-breed family of 5 laying hens. A hen lays an average of 300 eggs a year, so we also have a great deal of eggs, which is probably why they are uppermost in my mind.

The egg has long been a symbol of rebirth, the life cycle and fertility. Interestingly its' symbolic power is rivaled only by that of the cock. It is the ability of the egg to create a new life that made it so mysterious to pagan believers. People used to believe the earth was shaped like an egg and early myths believed the yellow egg yolk, symbolized the sun, which in turn was viewed as a source of life. As eggs embody the very essence of life, they have throughout the ages been imbued with mystical properties of being able to divine the future.

Historically different cultures have their own traditions and beliefs concerning eggs. In Egypt eggs were hung in the temples to encourage fertility, in Germany farm workers used to smear their pitches with egg whilst digging the soil, as they believed the egg would help the ground to be more fertile. Some people shunned eating eggs or destroying them at all, for fear of harming fertility.

As Europe became Christian, eggs became a symbol of Easter and the resurrection of Christ. In the past, Christians gave up eggs for Lent, the 40 days that Jesus was in the wilderness. But even though people didn't eat them, the hens kept laying them! So people would hard-boil and decorate them which helped preserve them longer and serve as part of the holiday festivities. The egg is also part of the Jewish Passover holiday that takes place in the Spring, symbolizing sacrifice and rebirth.

It is therefore in the Spring, when everything is coming back into life after the winter, that the egg is most closely associated.

The whole chicken raising experience is positive, despite my original objections to the kids. I'm a very keen cook who likes good, fresh ingredients and we all love the difference in taste we are getting from our eggs. Eggs are so versatile and should be the star of your cooking all year round, adapting your culinary use of them to the seasons.

This year for Easter we're doing something different. We've bought a selection of egg cups to sit our freshly laid eggs in, once the kids have decorated them. We'll wrap them simply in brown paper and give them as gifts.

However, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by pretending that eggs are any substitute for chocolate.

Happy Easter!

To read more about eggs, raising chickens and egg cups with a difference visit Eggs are not just for Easter. -------------------------------------------------- For more resources on food, see www.greatestfoodsource.com.