# When did eggs become the breakfast staple (in the US)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 20, 2019, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-eggs-become-the-breakfast-staple-in-the-us/829932 "2019-02-20T23:41:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [February 24, 2019, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-eggs-become-the-breakfast-staple-in-the-us/829932/61 "2019-02-24T04:13:10Z")
I think eggs got their reputation for spoiling easily not because they actually do spoil easily, but because when they (rarely) do go bad, they go _very_ bad indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-eggs-become-the-breakfast-staple-in-the-us/829932/62 "2019-02-24T16:25:35Z")
The thing is, if you have the chickens to have eggs, you have a regular supply of eggs. You’re going to eat them. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-eggs-become-the-breakfast-staple-in-the-us/829932/63 "2019-02-24T21:09:26Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > From the French name for it, _pain perdu_. In Germany, eggy bread is _Arme Ritter_ , in Finland\* köyhät ritarit\* - and even in England, it may be called the same - Poor knights (sometimes Poor Knights of Windsor) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-eggs-become-the-breakfast-staple-in-the-us/829932/64 "2019-02-24T22:14:41Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Certainly. **No English speaker I know calls the first meal of one’s day, regardless of timing, “breakfast.”** I mean, “skipping breakfast” is a thing. If I awake at 7 a.m. and don’t eat until 6 p.m. in the evening, that meal is certainly not called “breakfast” by any usual speaker of the English language. I just skipped breakfast (and lunch.) Emphasis mine. Hi; ekedolphin; nice to meet you. Actually, I’d say my cutoff for breakfast-time would be about 2, 3 o’clock in the afternoon. I would _never_ wait until 6 to have my first meal of the day, though. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-eggs-become-the-breakfast-staple-in-the-us/829932/65 "2019-02-24T23:42:38Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Emphasis mine. > > Hi; ekedolphin; nice to meet you. > > Actually, I’d say my cutoff for breakfast-time would be about 2, 3 o’clock in the afternoon. I would _never_ wait until 6 to have my first meal of the day, though. See, at that point I’d just call it a late lunch or early dinner, unless I woke up at noon. Then I might be inclined to call it breakfast. But if I awoke at 7 a.m.? That does seem odd to me. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-eggs-become-the-breakfast-staple-in-the-us/829932/66 "2019-02-24T23:51:53Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Tell that to the sourdoughs in Alaska, back in the day. Ask anyone who’s ever eaten a “boat egg.” > > _PALMER – At 71, Art Carney is old enough to remember “boat eggs,” the term people used to describe eggs that had been shipped to Alaska. By the time the boat reached the dock in Anchorage, the eggs were so old the yolk ran as soon as the egg was cracked, he said. In fresh eggs, the yolk stays firm._ - Anchorage Daily News, 9/27/06 My mother used to bake. (Almost a lost art?). She had eggs in the cupboard which she used for some baking, because aged/runny eggs work better in some baked goods. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-eggs-become-the-breakfast-staple-in-the-us/829932/67 "2019-02-25T12:22:41Z")
In the UK in the 50s and 60s, the Egg Marketing Board ran a long campaign around the slogan ‘go to work on an egg’ which must have helped its popularity. So successful in fact that the slogan is still familiar to most of us, even though the campaign hasn’t run for over 50 years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-eggs-become-the-breakfast-staple-in-the-us/829932.md?page=3)