In China’s Dongyang city, spring is the season for eggs. There is a tradition where eggs are soaked and boiled in urine and served as spring treats.
From primary schools, buckets of urine are collected, mostly from boys who are younger than 10 for this occasion. This particular tradition is called ‘Virgin Boy Eggs’.
Tradition marks coming of spring
Mostly, spring is marked as the season of revival. Some do it by cleaning homes from top to bottom, while others add pastels to their wardrobe. On the contrary, people in the Eastern Chinese city of Dongyang, they eat “virgin boy eggs”.
However, residents adore the regional delicacy for its capacity to prevent colds, boost circulation and boost vitality.
“These eggs cooked in urine are fragrant,” said Ge Yaohua, 51, who owns one of the more popular “virgin boy eggs” stalls. “Our family has them for every meal. In Dongyang, every family likes eating them.”
The process of making the eggs
Then they are heated over the stove after soaking the eggs in the urine. They are then taken out of the shells and put back in the urine to boil. This process takes a whole day to make a batch. It is sold at twice the price of a regular boiled egg, 1 egg sells for 23 cents.
“It’s so delicious that I can eat 10 eggs a day,” a woman named Liu told the Daily. “I am addicted.”
Experts say on the tradition
The urine “diminishes the internal heat of the human body”, Wu Yunhua at Dongyang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine said to the Daily.
Yet a traditional doctor growls upon the centuries-old delicacy.
“After all, it is waste from the body,” said a chief urologist at Jinhua Central Hospital, Huang Jian.
“The smell kills me,” Mr. Li told the Qianjiang Evening Post. “I feel like throwing up at the thought of it. It stinks.”
