Once in a while you have a day that is unlike any other. It's the kind of day when you realise just how fortunate you are. Today was such a day. We had a class about food technology, which was mostly about food preservation methods and extending shelf life. Not exactly the most exciting subject, but it is like building a house. You may put up a wall and be quite contented about your day's work, however, without a proper foundation the house may not be built to last. In other words; it's basic knowledge we need to have in order form an informed opinion about the food industry.
If it wasn't for my dear and respected colleagues this may have turned out to be a rather dull kind of day. Nevertheless, the University of Gastronomic Sciences brings together people from all sorts of backgrounds and professions, which is truly amazing when it comes to cross pollination of knowledge and view points! Putting these kinds of people together means that the sometimes dry material we are learning is turned into exciting real life situations through all sorts of discussions!
Example? To refrigerate eggs or not. Ok, so maybe you never thought about it, but apparently this is different the world over! Our class is made up of various nationalities, enabling us to do an in class survey immediately. In American supermarkets eggs are in the chilled section and American consumers usually keep their eggs in the fridge. Here in Europe few people put eggs in the fridge. Even in tropical Latin American countries not everyone refrigerates eggs. But what is the reasoning behind all this? Is it purely a cultural issue or is there a scientific explanation? I mean, seriously, I won't be able to sleep tonight without figuring out this dilemma! Luckily our professor is able to provide us with some essential information.
Aha! So you want to know the answer now too, do you? I told you this is intriguing stuff! Ok then, here goes! Eggs do not need to be refrigerated and there is no health risk to storing them outside of the fridge (sorry FDA!). However, it does make them last longer if they are refrigerated. On the other hand, as I'm convinced that science can only overruled by one woman, let's see what my grandmother's opinion is on the matter. She always use to say that only the freshest eggs would do for her cooking. Anything else ran the risk of ruining the result and with the number of hours she would spend in the kitchen, that simply wasn't worth the try. It's not just about how much love you put in a dish, it's also about how much love you put in your grocery shopping.
So, thanks to my class mates and my old grannie, I am able to sleep tonight. I'm already looking forward to breakfast tomorrow. Unrefrigerated, poached eggs on toast! With an espresso of course!
