esrosedotblog

Travel broadens, brings new perspectives, enlightens.

Hence it is not surprising that I actually learned something on this trip to a "foreign" country.

England (or is it Great Britain, I still do not know, more to learn) is different. Sometimes, quite different, in their ways.

I include this word, "ways", as that too came up as a new means of referring to culture and such during my trip. Broadened again.

I don't think much about people's "ways" unless they get in my way. I am curious about culture but I have mine and they have theirs. I'm OK, you're OK. I digress.

We were talking about the surprises to be had in other cultures about common things.

For example. In my friend's kitchen, I was helping myself to granola when I saw that right in front of the granola container was a 6-pack of eggs. In the open. Room temperature. Not in the refrigerator ("fridge" I think).

I stopped. I looked. Yes. Eggs. Room fucking temperature. What was going on?

I put the thoughts of correcting this egregious violation of simple hygiene and, as a guest, kept my mouth shut. A position that I am not used to. So, it is not surprising that eventually, about five minutes, I blurted about the eggs being warm and what the hell? Kindly of course.

I was set straight by the cook who has strong ideas which have been firmly set in place by good kitchen training. Basically, another culture clash but not only that, a statement of yet another American failure to keep up. A subtle competition revived around the field of egg husbandry. Is that the right word? I am struggling here.

It turns out that there is only one way to explain this. Bluntly, the Americans let a lot of shit get on the eggs in production and the Brits do not. The Americans have to clean their eggs before distribution, basically, as far as I can see, to compensate for poor or inadequate sanitation in the hen house.

I was chastened and, yet again found that just because we separated from them, well, rebelled, there are certain areas that the English (in this particular case Welsh and not the same thing by any means and don't forget it) still have over us.

Americans, Why Do You Keep Refrigerating Your Eggs?

Simple answer, because they have shit on them and we have to clean it off to avoid salmonella contamination.

And why do we have shit on our eggs? Because the farm industry turned into an industry and, as usual, took profit motive over public health.

And then, in the usual sequence, it turns out that the measures taken to clean the egg increase the probability of further contamination because the cuticle is removed. More messing with Mother Nature to our detriment.

I am not worried about this. All things considered, I would rather refrigerate my eggs anyway. Just to be sure. Besides, I hard boil all of them soon after their arrival at home and, while that is for another purpose, this tends to kill any bugs and also makes them a bit more resistant to spoilage.

Thus endeth our lecture on eggness in the UK and the US. More culture notes will follow.

Labels: agriculture, culture, eggs, food