Chinese Delicacy: Urine Eggs

wrote: Every culture has its own unique cuisine, and the rituals to make local delicacies that are thousands of years old are still passed on through families and via street vendors today. Dongyang, in the Zhejiang province of China, however, may have one of the most unique foods that has carried over to modern times: virgin boy eggs, hard-boiled eggs soaked and boiled in the urine of boys under the age of ten.

In this small coastal town, the eggs are considered a delicacy, and urine for making them at home and for street vendors to use is collected through buckets left outside the boys? bathrooms in Dongyang primary schools. Vendors who sell the eggs, like 51-year-old Ge Yaohua, claim the ?fragrant? eggs have miraculous healing properties, promoting better circulation, increasing stamina and preventing heat stroke.?

?They are good for your health,? Ge told Reuters. ?Our family has them for every meal. In Dongyang, every family likes eating them.?

Many Dongyang residents, both young and old, believe these stories, and are happy to carry on a tradition passed down for many generations.