24th Aug 2008
Incredible, edible, processed until unrecognizable…
I have never seen a film so madly in love with eggs — nor, after this, do I want to see one again. After a minute of rhapsodizing about the historical value, versatility, and nutritional value of the incredible edible egg, the smarmy narrator of The Incredible Edible Egg In Foodservice gives every possible detail about egg safety and preparation.
This was a production of the American Egg Board, and it’s bizarre that they felt the need to explain the uses of eggs to the world. As is mentioned in the beginning, eggs have been used forever. Industry advertisements are supposed to make you realize, “Gosh, how have we ever been living without this product? Get one now! Heck, get two!” I don’t expect there are many food service industries which were ignorant of the versatility of egg usage before seeing this advertisement.
One thing that the film doesn’t bother to explain is exactly what a “long egg” is — and, watching this as a non-food-service-person, this was the one thing I really hoped they’d explain. (Wikipedia didn’t even have an article on it [!], but Google saved the day.) Apparently, it’s a cylinder with egg white on the outside and yolk on the inside that, when sliced, creates hard-boiled egg pieces of consistent diameter. It appears to have been invented in the 1970’s.
Photo is from a webpage in a language I don’t have the character set for, which includes some other pictures of less elegant-looking long eggs as well.
That was the first time I’d ever heard the “incredible, edible egg” in something other than a parody. And now the little one is singing it.