If it were true that man cannot stand too much perfection, then we would not have the egg. And without the perfect egg we would have neither cakes nor custards, no crème caramel or brulée, no quiche or Angel’s Food cake, no béarnaise or hollandaise, and therefore no eggs Benedict! There would be no zabaglione, no chocolate mousse or eggy gelato, no bread pudding or French toast, or dozens and dozens of delights in which eggs work their inimitable magic, leavening, binding, thickening, enhancing, and enriching. And I haven’t even mentioned all the dishes in which the egg is the star — deviled eggs, egg salad, egg sauce, egg nog and breakfast sunnysideup-overeasyscrambledpoachedcoddledshirredhaveityourway eggs.

Hold perfection in your hand for a moment before plunging it into boiling water, or cracking it on the edge of the pan before frying or the rim of the bowl before scrambling. Just look at it. Perfection. You don’t see that every day. Or maybe you do, and don’t give it a second glance. The egg is a common but also potent symbol imbued with centuries of reverence and regard.

Only during the spring does the egg get anything close to the attention it deserves. After all, when but during the days before Easter is the egg more carefully examined? The pastel painted eggs nestled in the Easter basket — alongside foil-wrapped, egg-shaped chocolates and too-cute-to-bite bunnies — doesn’t begin to tell the tale. The history of the iconic, symbolic, legendary egg emerges from the mists of time, thousands of years ago.

Eggs and birds have been around far longer than historians. Egyptian and Chinese records show that fowl were laying eggs for consumption as early as 1400 B.C.E. More than just food, this bit of life encased in a brittle shell assumed symbolic importance from the beginning of civilization. The Phoenicians believed the very creation of heaven and earth began with a primordial egg breaking apart. In an interesting inversion, Ptah, god of the ancient Egyptians — is said to have created the egg from the sun and moon. According to Native Americans, the world was created when the Great Spirit burst forth from the giant golden egg and created the world.

Early Spring festivals, welcoming the sun's return from its long winter sleep, were part of every early civilization, and the egg would play it’s part. Easter, a rite of Spring celebrating Christ’s resurrection, which has its antecedent in the risen Adonis, is no exception. Blessed, colored, eaten, displayed, and exchanged, the egg had long been associated with the change of season, and proof of the renewal of life.

Soon after the date for Easter was astronomically fixed in 525 C.E., decision-makers within the church made eggs forbidden during Lent. Since you could not, however, stop hens from laying, there was a glut of eggs on the market. This surplus may have inspired the hard-boiling and decorating of eggs that became part of the Easter celebration.

In Germany, emptied eggshells are painted, decorated with lace and ribbon, and hung on a small leafless tree. Poles, Slavs, and Ukrainians share an enduring tradition of elaborately decorated Easter eggs. Every dot, line and cross-hatching in the pattern is meaningful. Yugoslavian Easter eggs bear the initials "XV" for "Christ is Risen," a traditional Easter greeting.

In Imperial Russia, Easter was celebrated with far more fanfare than Christmas. The tradition of the decorated Easter egg reached its zenith during the time of the final Tsar, Nicholas II, when exquisite, bejeweled eggs were commissioned from the goldsmith Peter Carl Fabergé. These precious eggs made of gold and rock crystal, and decorated with diamonds, amethyst, and rubies, often concealed something even more extravagant within. All this artistry and indulgent expense was meant, the artist-jeweler said, merely to charm and nothing more. No wonder the serfs revolted.

Rolling and hunting for Easter eggs has long been an important part of the Easter holiday in England and the U.S. Brightly colored eggs are called pace eggs in England, after pascha, Latin for Easter, and are said to symbolize the rolling away of the stone that entombed Christ. The egg and Easter are inseparable.

This remarkable gift of the bird to man touches every culture and cuisine. Ostrich, duck, plover, gull, quail, and the ubiquitous hen eggs are among those enjoyed in some form or another: egg-drop soups like Italian Stracciatella, Greek avgolemono and Japanese tamago toji; a French omelet or an Italian frittata; Chinese thousand year-old eggs and spiced pigeon eggs; Thai kai khem (salted duck eggs); Mexican huevos rancheros (eggs, tortillas, cheese and spicy salsa); sausage-wrapped Scotch eggs; Florentine eggs; Creole eggs; Basque eggs; Finnish egg cheese; and sweet Portuguese egg custard, barriga de freira (Nun’s Tummies), are just a few of literally thousands of egg-based recipes that cut across every ethnic line.

Look at perfection again. Neat, huh? To those of you who have abandoned the egg in favor of gagging down a bowl of dusty cereal flecked with hard bits of dried fruit — rejoice! The neatly self-packaged egg is also food perfection. Each egg is a mere 70 calories and is loaded with what’s good for you: potassium, protein, calcium, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, vitamins A, B-6, B-12, phosphorus, and zinc. Eggs also provide lecithin — which contains a phospholipid, acetycholine, that has been demonstrated to have a profound effect on brain function — and lutein and zeaxanthin, which promote eye health. That’s just one egg, and really, who eats just one?

Convenient, tasty, essential, primal — the egg is undeniably part of life. It fits into any setting, casual or formal, and is always there when needed. So join with me to intone the words of the American poet, Clarence Day:

Oh, who that ever lived and loved
Can look upon an egg unmoved?
The egg is the source of all.
’Tis everyone’s ancestral hall ... Oh, join me gentlemen I beg.
In honoring our friend, the egg.

Now, get crackin’.

Edward Bottone, a food and lifestyle journalist, is Chef/Instructor in the Culinary Arts program at Drexel University and has been a radio talk show host and TV presenter, and is also a food stylist and photographer.

Eggy Facts

• The color of the shell has nothing to do with anything except the type of hen that laid the egg.
• The hue of the yolk, on the other hand, is affected by what the hen is fed. Wheat-fed hens will produce darker yolks than those fed on corn and alfalfa.
• Blood spots occasionally found on an egg yolk do not indicate a fertilized egg. Rather, they are caused by the rupture of a blood vessel on the yolk surface during formation of the egg or by a similar accident in the wall of the oviduct. Less than one percent of all eggs have blood spots. The spot can be removed with the tip of a knife. Chemically and nutritionally, these eggs are fit to eat.
• Eggs should be stored large end up in the refrigerator, away from foods with strong smells. An egg at room temperature will lose more of its freshness in a day than a refrigerated egg will in a week.
• Egg whites may be frozen (in an ice cube tray and then bagged for convenience) for six months.Ever wonder where the term “nest egg” originated? In the hen house, of course. A natural, or wooden egg, was placed in a nest to encourage a hen to lay there rather than in some secluded hiding place. Now, we think of a nest egg as money set aside as a reserve.