• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Chinese delicacy known as "Virgin Boy Eggs."

Status
Not open for further replies.

ChiTownBuffalo

Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
It's not as horrible as you might think. But still horrible. Video in link.

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."
 
Omg what a weird creepy culture
How on earth would something like this get started and another dude is like "yeah that sounds like a good tradition"
 

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
Oh local traditional Chinese cultural practices. Sure makes things interesting, and occasionally disgusting.
 

Staccat0

Fail out bailed
4889183274_aa4aacd327.jpg
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
maybe not as horrible as I expected but now I can't even remember what I expected.
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
And still, people in Japan and China have the highest life expectancy in the world.

Magical urine-soaked eggs or coincidence? You decide!
 

dojokun

Banned
Chinese, masters of snake oil.

I remember a thread on GAF about the original snake oil being Chinese (shared with Americans by Chinese railroad workers) and that this snake oil WORKED. It was when American businessman made their own brand using the wrong species of snakes that there came to be useless snake oil.
 

Davidion

Member
Goddammit, stop embarrassing me China.

I'll eat thousand year old eggs by the dozen but...but...uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh
 
And still, people in Japan and China have the highest life expectancy in the world.

Magical urine-soaked eggs or coincidence? You decide!

I decide no. I would rather die at 28 than have to eat urine eggs or drink virgin blood or whatever other crazy nonsense hicks come up with.
 

numble

Member
I don't know why Reuters had to insert the word "virgin" in the name of the eggs and exclude the word "urine." Pretty liberal translation by them. A direct translation of the name would be "Young boy's urine-boiled eggs."
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
I don't know why Reuters had to insert the word "virgin" in the name of the eggs and exclude the word "urine." Pretty liberal translation by them. A direct translation of the name would be "Young boy's urine eggs."

Would you have clicked on that headline? That's right.
 

Binabik15

Member
How can enough people go "Well, I should cook eggs in little boy urine" for it to be a speciality/traditional dish?

Whaaaaa.
 

ChiTownBuffalo

Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
How can enough people go "Well, I should cook eggs in little boy urine" for it to be a speciality/traditional dish?

Whaaaaa.

Can't be any weirder than Koreans going, "You know what's going to make this taste better? Let's bury it in the ground and leave it for a month."

Or, early man going down to the seashore during low tide and playing "Is this edible?"

However, thank you dear sweet Jeebus for making kimchi urine free.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
Can't be any weirder than Koreans going, "You know what's going to make this taste better? Let's bury it in the ground and leave it for a month."

Or, early man going down to the seashore during low tide and playing "Is this edible?"

However, thank you dear sweet Jeebus for making kimchi urine free.



mixing waste with food goes against most any natural instinct.
 
Can't be any weirder than Koreans going, "You know what's going to make this taste better? Let's bury it in the ground and leave it for a month."

Or, early man going down to the seashore during low tide and playing "Is this edible?"
The part where they put it in a jar first is important. Fermenting something in a place that will be reliably temperate (much like a wine cellar) makes complete sense.

A quick sauté in piss does not.
 
Can't be any weirder than Koreans going, "You know what's going to make this taste better? Let's bury it in the ground and leave it for a month."

Or, early man going down to the seashore during low tide and playing "Is this edible?"

However, thank you dear sweet Jeebus for making kimchi urine free.
seriously? you can't see how this is weirder?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom