Eggs are our lifeline – egg rolls difficult to resist

Any discussion on eggs is bound to turn controversial because there are two distinct schools of thought – one is that the yellow of the egg is not good for the heart because of its cholesterol, another encourages people to embrace the egg as a good nutrient. A jingle goes – Sunday ho ya Monday, ao khayev andey (whether it is Sunday or Monday, come let us eat eggs).
A report has indicated that one large egg contains approximately 187 milligrams of cholesterol. The report goes on to add that in spite of their fat and cholesterol content, egg yolks are a good source of vitamin A and iron, along with a host of other nutrients.
The yolk of eggs added to your cholesterol levels because they contained substances that dissolve readily in blood to give rise to blocked arteries in the heart – that is not good news. Hence eggs should be removed from the menu and need to be avoided like poison.
Obviously, consumers became cautious. How nice would it have been if someone would come up with a variety of yolkless eggs as we have ‘sugarless’ sweetener tablets for the diabetics! That has not happened till now.
Anyway, it cannot be denied that eggs are our lifeline. We grew up on eggs. In our nursery days we learnt all about Humpty and Dumpty who sat on a wall, fell down, and made a mess of their lives. The army was called in by the King but the poor creatures could not be reassembled.
As we stepped into our youth, we discovered that eggs are a sort of symbol of bachelorhood – different methods of preparation of eggs added to the repertoire of the bachelors’ cuisine capabilities. From simple boiled eggs, to half boiled ones, followed by the omelettes and scrambled eggs, the bachelors had to master the arts or go hungry. There was a time when there were no pizza outlets around that guaranteed delivery within half-n-hour – else it came to you free. In those days, the concept of two minute noodles had not yet taken off. Those noodles you just boiled in water and consumed as you took in the day’s news before making a bee line for the bus or tram or train or whatever to take you to your place of work.
It has to be admitted that we love eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The delicious Moghlai parathas of Anadi cabin in Kolkata and the innumerable clones of eggs right from egg rolls to biryani are unimaginable without eggs. The egg rolls, wrapped and delivered to you on a platter are difficult to resist, come what may.
Incidentally, egg rolls have provided thousands of the youth of Kolkata with a means of earning a reasonably good livelihood by setting up stalls at street corners – these entrepreneurs prepare and supply on-the-spot egg rolls to meet the thousands of hungry mouths.