# Could you make an omelette of human eggs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2017, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070 "2017-07-25T07:14:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/1 "2017-07-25T07:14:06Z")
…it should be obvious, but I will state for the record, that I know nothing of human anatomy. Something something unfertilized embryos are tiny, not like a hen’s, and get discarded every month? If some mad scientist wanted to, could s/he collect enough human eggs to make a breakfast omelette? How many? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/2 "2017-07-25T08:00:07Z")
It wouldn’t be like an omelette - it would be like a sort of hamburger or sausagemeat. Human eggs are just cells - meat. the eggs of birds (well, and reptiles and maybe monotremes) make omelettes because of the albumen and yolk materials, not the embryo. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/3 "2017-07-25T08:00:39Z")
I have no idea about the makeup of a human egg and whether it could make an omelette. However, given that a chicken egg is made up of the genetic material plus a heap of nutrient matter from which the chick can grow, while a human egg is I assume basically just the genetic material, I don’t think there is any comparison. Also, the volume of a chicken egg is about 46ml which is 46cm[sup]3[/sup]. A human egg is said to have a diameter of .1mm or .01cm. The volume of a sphere is 4/3πr[sup]3[/sup] which means the volume of a single human egg is 0.0000005cm[sup]3[/sup]. So dividing one by the other it would take about 92 million human eggs to make up the volume of one chicken egg. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/4 "2017-07-25T08:15:37Z")
Howard the Duck was utterly mortified to find that the big hairless apes around him _fried and ate bird eggs_. How mortified would we be to find that the ducks of Duckworld cultivate and harvest hairless ape eggs like caviar? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/5 "2017-07-25T08:54:45Z")
It wouldn’t taste nearly as good as [pan-fried semen](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=198659&highlight=semen). ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/6 "2017-07-25T09:05:36Z")
You would know this how? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/7 "2017-07-25T09:11:18Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > You would know this how? By reading the linked thread. If you feel up to it. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/8 "2017-07-25T12:33:53Z")
I’m familiar with the thread. But it doesn’t tell **panache45** how a human egg omelette would taste, does it? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/9 "2017-07-25T12:44:10Z")
Here’s an [“artist”](http://www.chrissycaviar.com/ccaviar/) who purports to be selling (or to have been selling-- It’s an ancient webpage) just such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/10 "2017-07-25T14:23:56Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I have no idea about the makeup of a human egg and whether it could make an omelette. However, given that a chicken egg is made up of the genetic material plus a heap of nutrient matter from which the chick can grow, while a human egg is I assume basically just the genetic material, I don’t think there is any comparison. The difference is one of degree, not kind. By cell biology standards, the human oocyte is a huge cell packed with high-density nutrients, including granules of albumin and fat. This provides enough energy and material for several days of cell division prior to implantation. At implantation, the embryo is a blastocyst with several hundred cells, all made from material provided by the oocyte. Having worked with various sorts of cell lysates, I’d guess that oocytes would be noticeably fattier and more viscous. Most types of cell lysates can also form something that looks sort of like a fine egg drop soup, where the denatured protein has precipitated. However I’ve always used conditions intended to keep some protein of interest soluble, so now I’m curious to see what happens when the whole lysate is simply cooked without added buffers or detergents… ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/11 "2017-07-25T16:03:29Z")
Mammals with placentas to my knowledge do not have yolks, so even if you poached embryos with yolk sacs there wouldn’t be anything good to dip your toast in. Omelettes are right out. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/12 "2017-07-25T21:06:01Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Mammals with placentas to my knowledge do not have yolks, so even if you poached embryos with yolk sacs there wouldn’t be anything good to dip your toast in. > > Omelettes are right out. Mammalian embryos \*do \*form a [yolk sac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolk_sac) early in their development. Alas, the yolk sac doesn’t develop much after the fourth week or so of pregnancy (part of it is incorporated into the tissue that will become the gut), and by the end of pregnancy the remains of the yolk sac measure no more than 5mm across. So no, there’s really no point at which humans produce any yolk worth eating. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/13 "2017-07-25T21:30:25Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > Mammalian embryos \*do \*form a [yolk sac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolk_sac) early in their development. Alas, the yolk sac doesn’t develop much after the fourth week or so of pregnancy (part of it is incorporated into the tissue that will become the gut), and by the end of pregnancy the remains of the yolk sac measure no more than 5mm across. So no, there’s really no point at which humans produce any yolk worth eating. Eggxactly. But who says an omelette has to have yolk in it (other than the French, of course). Egg white omelettes are no yoke! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/14 "2017-07-26T00:29:28Z")
On a somewhat related note, is there any reason to consider that an unfertilized bird’s egg is comprised of multiple cells? Or is it all just one cell? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/15 "2017-07-26T02:57:50Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Howard the Duck was utterly mortified to find that the big hairless apes around him _fried and ate bird eggs_. > > How mortified would we be to find that the ducks of Duckworld cultivate and harvest hairless ape eggs like caviar? What _I_ want to know is…how was Howard familiar enough with the appearance of cooked eggs to recognize them on sight? I guess maybe he saw some heavy shit back in Anatidnam. Bad times, man. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-an-omelette-of-human-eggs/792070/16 "2017-07-26T05:55:09Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > On a somewhat related note, is there any reason to consider that an unfertilized bird’s egg is comprised of multiple cells? Or is it all just one cell? Apart from the yolk sac, which I’m not sure about, I don’t think it’s made from cells in general - it’s a secretion.