# Has the word "Egg" been redefined when I wasn't looking? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [October 28, 2021, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354 "2021-10-28T03:59:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/21 "2021-10-28T12:35:23Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I don’t know what “Really Good Eggs” are, but anything that remains as an uncoagulated liquid in a carton for an indefinite duration is not an egg. Egg yolks are liquid. Egg whites are liquid. They remain uncoagulated inside the shell for some duration. [Obi-wan Kenobi] It is an egg . . . from a certain point of view [/Obi-wan Kenobi] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/22 "2021-10-28T13:02:45Z")
Many years back my local health food market had “vegetarian eggs” that were actual eggs. I asked an employee and they said it meant that the hens were fed a vegetarian diet. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/23 "2021-10-28T13:37:17Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > the hens were fed a vegetarian diet. Heh. The only way to insure a hen gets a vegetarian diet is to confine them, battery style. Our hens get layer mash which is vegetarian, but they have access to the outdoors, where they ingest whatever they encounter. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/24 "2021-10-28T15:28:46Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > ggs, on the other hand, are pretty exclusively understood to be a zygote-containing shell with high protein, fats, and nutrient values. Nitpick: Almost none of the eggs for sale in the modern USA (I can’t speak for other places) have been fertilized. The laying hens never even see a rooster. No zygotes. > [@hajario](#): > > Many years back my local health food market had “vegetarian eggs” that were actual eggs. I asked an employee and they said it meant that the hens were fed a vegetarian diet. Quite a lot of vegetarians eat eggs (and, for that matter, dairy products.) Vegans, of course, don’t. And yes, there’s nothing natural about a vegetarian diet for a chicken. They’re omnivores. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/25 "2021-10-28T15:39:53Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Quite a lot of vegetarians eat eggs (and, for that matter, dairy products.) I could be wrong, but I still think the default for “vegetarian” is ovo-lactovegetarian, and not full-on vegan. I mean, it very well can have progressed to a vegan definition. Hell, when I was growing up, vegetarian still meant “no visible signs of meat” to many folks. “Oh, it’s mushroom soup, honey.” “What kind of stock is it made on?” “Beef.” “That’s not vegetarian!” “But it’s mushroom soup!” Perhaps more commonly, though, was “fish” being thought of as “vegetarian” by at least non-vegetarians. I’m not sure how prevalent pescatarianism was among the self-identified vegetarian community. And then a few misguided souls lopping in chicken as being acceptable to vegetarians which, honestly, I can somewhat understand given there is not much difference between a chicken and a vegetable in terms of intelligence. (I keed, I keed.) All this as a longwinded way to say I think “vegetarian” with no qualifiers, still includes eggs and dairy. But I would like to be informed if this has changed. That said, when I cook or buy stuff for vegetarians, I do ask specifically what kind they are. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/26 "2021-10-28T19:47:20Z")
I should sue them for fraud I really thought they were “just eggs” ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/27 "2021-10-28T19:54:22Z")
But they are, those eggs have never been unjust in their existence. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/28 "2021-10-28T20:50:16Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Quite a lot of vegetarians eat eggs (and, for that matter, dairy products.) Vegans, of course, don’t. Agreed but I was wondering why one group of eggs were vegetarian eggs and the rest didn’t have that modifier. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/29 "2021-10-28T21:16:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I have seen soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, wheat milk and various other types of milk, but I assure you that if someone put out a non-milk product called “Just Milk”, and advertised that “It is the best milk you would ever taste!” there would be hell to pay. Thanks to the EU, ‘milk’ in the UK has to be unadulterated milk from animals. My wife is lactose intolerant and we buy lactose free milk for her, although the label says “Lactose Free Milk Drink”. The same applies to all the other “milks”. Adding “drink” to a description makes it clear that the product is not pure. It appears on juice products: Orange juice is squeezed from oranges and while it may be pasturised, it is not diluted. Cranberry drink may well be made from cranberries but it is far from pure juice of the cranberry fruit. ---
**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:** [October 28, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/30 "2021-10-28T22:13:16Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > How do they make the shells? Gypsum. I heard tell a few years back of a merchant in China who had figured out how to make fake eggs from food-dyed corn syrup in gypsum shells, for cheaper than real eggs (an impressive feat, given how cheap real eggs are). Of course, they didn’t taste at all like real eggs, nor work in any of the same recipes, but you wouldn’t find that out until after you had bought them. I’m guessing that this Just product is at least a little closer on the flavor and culinary usage than that, and they’re probably more expensive than real eggs (because they can be), but they’re probably using similar shell technology. Or maybe they’re not putting them in shells at all, and you just pour it out of a carton or the like. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/31 "2021-10-28T23:03:55Z")
Pour it out, make scrambled “egg,” quiche, or something baked. It serves the purpose well and is much better than the powdered fake egg stuff we used before. What it won’t do is congeal in liquid, so no “egg” drop soup for you. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/32 "2021-10-28T23:22:40Z")
D’oh! Missed that! ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/33 "2021-10-28T23:31:54Z")
There may be loose standards, but if you care, especially if you are travelling, you may want to review the actual ingredients. One vegetarian soup turned out to have ‘not that much pork in it’. And, on the subject of eggs, balut are also eggs. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/34 "2021-10-28T23:42:43Z")
I lived in Eastern Europe in the late 90s before vegetarianism fully got a foothold there, so I definitely have encountered the idea of “not that much pork in it” or “vegetarian” chicken soup as just broth and noodles, but no visible pieces of meat. (I am an omnivore, myself, so it doesn’t matter much to me personally, but I tend to have vegetarians and vegans in my circle.) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/35 "2021-10-28T23:44:15Z")
In northern Spain, a dollop of tuna on your salad is a vegetable. “Sin atun” sometimes got me just a small amount of tuna. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/36 "2021-10-29T00:28:01Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Agreed but I was wondering why one group of eggs were vegetarian eggs and the rest didn’t have that modifier. Ah. That makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/37 "2021-10-29T00:29:44Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > One vegetarian soup turned out to have ‘not that much pork in it’. Well, there’s spam egg sausage and spam, that’s not got much spam in 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:** [October 29, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/38 "2021-10-29T00:45:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > …or “vegetarian” chicken soup as just broth and noodles, but no visible pieces of meat. Or just plain chicken cutlets being offered as a “vegetarian” alternative to steak. My mom encountered that once, at a picnic at the local community garden. You’d think that gardeners, of all people, would know better. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/39 "2021-10-29T01:37:14Z")
From the movie _My Big Fat Greek Wedding:_ > What do you mean, he don’t eat no meat? > Oh, that’s OK. I make lamb. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354/40 "2021-10-29T02:04:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > just saw an advert for a product called “Just Egg”, which they called “The best egg you’ll ever taste”. What confuses me is that they say it is made from plants, and nowhere in the advert or on their website does the word “artificial” pop up anywhere. Has the definition of “egg” actually changed, or is the name the biggest lie since the apocryphal “Maid Of Cashmere”? It’s like how products made from soybeans, oats, almonds, cashews, etc., can legitimately be labeled “milk.” I actually think anything that didn’t come from a mammal’s mammary glands should be called “artificial milk” or “faux milk” or something like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-word-egg-been-redefined-when-i-wasnt-looking/953354.md?page=3)