Giving Eggs Their Due
ELEVATE AND CELEBRATE THE WORKHORSE OF THE KITCHEN WITH NATURAL DYES YOU CAN MAKE YOURSELF
On most days of the year, we consider eggs just another staple in our culinary arsenal, workhorses of the kitchen. Served alone, scrambled or fried, eggs provide significant nutritional value at a relatively low cost and are easily prepared. Eggs are also essential ingredients in more complex dishes, adding creaminess, fluffiness, stiffness or softness, depending on how they are used.
On other days, though, we elevate otherwise pedestrian eggs, dressing them up in fancy colors, decorating them with illustrated designs and jewels, re-creating their shape in chocolate and colored sugar. Then we hide and hunt for them, roll them and consume them in large quantities.
What accounts for this lowly-to-worshipped change of status, all in a day or so’s time?
For millennia, the egg has been considered a sacred symbol of fertility, new life and renewal. Eggs appear in the rituals of most ancient cultures: Pagans to Persians both used the egg to celebrate the arrival of spring. Early Christians in Mesopotamia stained eggs with red dye to represent Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.
The most exalted example of “egg worship” is likely the bejeweled eggs created by Peter Carl Fabergé for the Russian Imperial Court. Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II commissioned as many as 69 “Fabergé Eggs” for their wives and mothers. The rest of us can now marvel at many of these stunning works of egg-shaped art in museums throughout the world.
Today, the dyeing and decorating of eggs around Eastertime has become almost ubiquitous, a widely practiced part of popular culture that is oftentimes removed from its religious symbolism. This means that everyone can enjoy getting creative with eggs, regardless of their faith.
