World Egg Day

by Melissa Caughey of Tilly’s Nest

Did you know that such a day existed? Well, it does and happens each year on the second Friday of October around the world. This year, World Egg Day will be celebrated on October 11, 2013.

This event was started by the International Egg Commission at one of their annual conferences in Vienna. The first World Egg Day was celebrated in 1996. Eggs are a vital source of nutrition in almost every country around the globe. The goal of this event is to raise public awareness of the nutritional benefits of eggs. During last year’s event, countries pledged to help make eggs more available to people in countries where and starvation and malnutrition are a daily occurrences.

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Here are some things that happened last year around the globe. In Vietnam, they had an egg cooking show, egg painting demonstrations, and special discounts on egg purchases. They also gave away hard-boiled eggs to people who visited the celebration’s booth.

In Canada, they declared the entire month, World Egg Month. Children in schools were paid visits from the Egg Farmers of Canada complete with laying hens and they were treated to a hot breakfast. In Thailand, one group donated 1000 eggs to a home for boys. In Africa, eggs were distributed in schools.

In Brazil, schools were also visited. Cooking demonstrations were shared and eggs were served for school lunches and snacks. Supermarkets also shared cooking demonstrations of assorted recipes. In the United States, the American Egg Board helped to facilitate cooking demonstrations across the the country while participating schools across the country played egg race games and dined on egg dishes. Farmers also visited and educated students how eggs arrive in the supermarket.

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So how can you join in and celebrate?

Share some of your chickens’ eggs.
Dine on egg recipes.
Tell egg jokes.
Play games with eggs.
Thank all the animals that lay eggs.
Take a peek at all the recipes that contain eggs.
Share the holiday with friends and family.
Consider donating eggs to a local food pantry.

World egg day really is a big deal! Last year, egg farmers donated approximately seven million dollars to this cause and over twenty-two million eggs to those in need. For more information on how you can get involved in the United States with our egg farmers, check out the Good Egg Project.