They are the symbol of the beginning, the origin of life. They were used as metaphors to explain the birth of the universe. And they’re one of the oldest foods out there. It has the perfect blend of amino acids necessary to build human tissues after breast milk. The egg’s great properties have made it fundamental to human existence for thousands of years.
At the beginning of everything
Several religions (Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Incas) have eggs at the center of their creation stories. In Southern California, the genesis of the Cahuilla tribe compares the creation of the universe to the moment an egg is broken. The Omaha tribe of Nebraska and Iowa tell of an egg that falls into the oceans. In this egg sleep all the mothers and all the fathers of all those who have not yet been born.
The shell is made of calcium carbonate and has an uneven, grainy texture. A single egg shell can have up to 17,000 small craters and is semi-permeable. This allows air and moisture to pass through. It surrounds the egg yolk, that ball of food, and the white, the colorless substance known as egg white. It is one of the most extraordinary and mysterious materials in nature. It acts as a biological and physical barrier. To a microbe, traveling through the white to reach the yolk is like traveling through a desert to a human. There is nothing to sustain life. Egg whites contain over 100 antimicrobial proteins to date, and there seems to be a lot more to be discovered. It’s a wonderful system of defense … in one of nature’s most fragile creations.
Eggs cannot withstand uneven forces. They crack easily when you knock them on the side of a bowl. This weakness is necessary for the chick; Otherwise it would not be able to penetrate the shell with her kiss.
The egg’s great properties also have to do with its shape. It is a structure with no solid internal support. And it’s strong enough to protect a life inside from the outside world. An egg can support the full weight of an adult animal during incubation. But it’s so fragile that it allows the baby to break free. And that’s although the eggs are stronger at the ends. Its curved shape distributes all weight evenly and minimizes stress and stretching.
Egg architecture
As early as the 20th century, architects succeeded in building egg-shaped structures on a large scale. One of them is “The Egg” in Beijing, which is over 1,000 square meters.
In the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period – from 1521 to 1898 – the relationship between architecture and eggs was of a different nature. The Spaniards came to evangelize and built many churches … with egg whites. They used them to make a type of mortar known as a mortar.
“Records show that the dome of Manila Cathedral was sealed with a layer of lime, brick powder, duck eggs and bamboo juice in 1780,” notes Filipino historian Pia Lim-Castillo.
“Fray Mariano Gomes de Cavite added duck eggs for the mortar to his expense list from 1824. His predecessor also used duck eggs in 1808.” Filipino cuisine offers numerous recipes for desserts with large amounts of egg yolks.
Perhaps there was only one egg in the center of the universe before the Big Bang.
