I do not know when or how the egg became an icon for Easter but it is. So are bunnies/rabbits, baby chicks and chocolate. Even the confectioners dream (or, perhaps nightmare), "Peeps", are iconic for this time of year. When I was a child, Peeps were only yellow. Now they can be found in a rainbow of colors. Peeps are not for the diabetic or glucose-sensitive. Along with Spam and Twinkies, these much-maligned, marshmallow, chick-shaped, sugar blobs are probably among the most highly criticized and tortured edible 'things' ever known. (Note: I refrained from calling Peeps food.) Even though most or all chefs, cooks, and epicureans would publicly despise, denigrate and denounce Peeps, (I suspect a few may even eat them although they would never be caught dead purchasing Peeps.) the company still sees healthy sales figures for the spring of each year. They wouldn't keep producing them if people didn't keep eating them.
Even "Peeps" brings me back to the egg idea. You know, chicks/chickens/eggs. This is not a question of which came first: Easter or the egg. Easter is a Christian celebration and holy day that has been in existence for, well, a couple of thousand. plus ten, years. The concept of "the incredible, edible egg" is a more recent marketing jingle that is iconic to millions. The poultry industry must be 'egg-static' (sorry) about the public's fascination and devotion to poultry-related Easter icons. Why, I even put eggs in my potato salad today, all because it is Easter Sunday.
I don't mean to make light of the reason Christians globally celebrate Easter - our Risen Lord - but I do intend to poke fun at myself and the rest of the world for how we humans have taken religious holidays and observances, over the course of centuries, and have added secular inclusions. I'm right there with the millions, world-wide, who will celebrate Holy Week and Easter Sunday as a sacred observance and then find my Easter eggs and Easter basket as quickly as I can.
I just have one question for you: What part of the chocolate bunny do you eat first?
Ancora imparo wishes you and yours an egg-ceptional and egg-stravagant day.
