Top News Urine-soaked eggs a spring taste treat in China city Thu, Mar 29 11:40 AM EDT 1 of 11 By Royston Chan DONGYANG, China (Reuters) - It's the end of a school day in the eastern Chinese city of Dongyang, and eager parents collect their children after a hectic day of primary school. But that's just the start of busy times for dozens of egg vendors across the city, deep in coastal Zhejiang province, who ready themselves to cook up a unique springtime snack favored by local residents. Basins and buckets of boys' urine are collected from primary school toilets. It is the key ingredient in "virgin boy eggs", a local tradition of soaking and cooking eggs in the urine of young boys, preferably below the age of 10. There is no good explanation for why it has to be boys' urine, just that it has been so for centuries. The scent of these eggs being cooked in pots of urine is unmistakable as people pass the many street vendors in Dongyang who sell it, claiming it has remarkable health properties. "If you eat this, you will not get heat stroke. These eggs cooked in urine are fragrant," said Ge Yaohua, 51, who owns one of the more popular "virgin boy eggs" stalls. "They are good for your health. Our family has them for every meal. In Dongyang, every family likes eating them." It takes nearly an entire day to make these unique eggs, starting off by soaking and then boiling raw eggs in a pot of urine. After that, the shells of the hard-boiled eggs are cracked and they continue to simmer in urine for hours. Vendors have to keep pouring urine into the pot and controlling the fire to keep the eggs from being overheated and overcooked. Ge said he has been making the snack, popular due to its fresh and salty taste, for more than 20 years. Each egg goes for 1.50 yuan ($0.24), a little more than twice the price of the regular eggs he also sells. Many Dongyang residents, young and old, said they believed in the tradition passed on by their ancestors that the eggs decrease body heat, promote better blood circulation and just generally reinvigorate the body. "By eating these eggs, we will not have any pain in our waists, legs and joints. Also, you will have more energy when you work," said Li Yangzhen, 59, who bought 20 eggs from Ge. The eggs are not bought only at street stalls. Local residents are also known to personally collect boys' urine from nearby schools to cook the delicacy in their homes. The popularity of the treat has led the local government to list the "virgin boy eggs" as an intangible cultural heritage. But not everyone is a fan. Chinese medical experts gave mixed reviews about the health benefits of the practice, with some warning about sanitary issues surrounding the use of urine to cook the eggs. Some Dongyang residents also said they hated the eggs. "We have this tradition in Dongyang that these eggs are good for our health and that it would help prevent things like getting a cold," said Wang Junxing, 38. "I don't believe in all this, so I do not eat them." (Editing by Elaine Lies and Paul Casciato)
We can always count on you to bring us this important new of the day. Note to self - avoid eggs in Dongyang
An excellent example of why "But it's a tradition" is not a good enough reason to perpetuate a practice. Sad, that a culture as old as the Chinese is still pockmarked with some really "piss-poor" ideas.
Tulianr theres a reason their culture is so old, they don't care to change. If yer blind to believe everything that was good enough for previous generations is good enough for you, then you never seek a better way so never change.
Gandhi drank his own urine. It is not an unknown practice, common among Hindu. It is an old yoga practice. It was suggested to me as a way to clear my mind for meditation but I didn't think that if I had, I could get my mind off of the act enough to have a positive meditation
There ain't no accounting for taste. Some people eat boogers, some like snails in butter, and some like piss eggs. And to think, I used to catch hell for liking cheese and peanut butter sandwiches.
Urine has purposes that exceed health practices "Pathan women in the North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955) of Pakistan during the Anglo-Afghan Wars used a method of execution involving urine, Pathan women urinated into prisoner's mouths.[14] Captured British soldiers were spread out on the ground and fastened with restraints to the ground, then a stick or a piece of wood was used to keep their mouth open to prevent swallowing. Pathan women then squatted and urinated directly into the mouth of the man until he drowned in the urine, taking turns one at a time.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] This method of execution was reported to have been practiced specifically by the women of the Afridi tribe of the Pashtuns.[23][24]"
Virgin pee preserved eggs...a new taste sensation??? Piss eggs are probably not the kind of oriental taste sensation that is likely to translate well into occidental cullinary culture. I think the "ancient" practice is probably actually a relatively recent custom. I think that the translation of the modern English expression "full of piss and vinegar" was misconstrued by chinese preservers of eggs. They may have one day run out of the traditional preservative, vinegar, and thinking that piss had equivalently preservative properties...substituted piss for the vinegar, when vinegar was not available. Like olive oil, the pee from virgins was deemed superior to non virgin sources of pee. Yet another cross cultural confounding example of concepts that are lost in translation!!! Full of piss and vinegar Cool Hand Luke wouldn't have bet on eating 50 virgin pee preserved eggs! 50 Eggs - Paul Newman - YouTube
You may be onto something there, Chello. How long do you think it took to get a volunteer for the taste test?
It's all good fun until someone forces you to eat one! Starvation can become a strong motivator....when virgin pee egs are all that are in the pantry, folk tend not to be so picky as they might like to be if there were better options and choices. I'd say that these kind of eggs would be selling well in Pyongyang at the moment! : O (pun intended)
Luckily I don't have any of these stored in my supplies and never would. I would have a hard time thinking, should I die or not, if this was the last thing I had to eat.
