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History

Bird eggs have been valuable foodstuffs since prehistory, in both hunting societies and more recent cultures where birds were domesticated. The chicken was most likely domesticated for its eggs (from jungle fowl native to tropical and subtropical Southeast Asia and Indian subcontinent) before 7500 BCE. Chickens were brought to Sumer and Egypt by 1500 BCE, and arrived in Greece around 800 BCE, where the quail had been the primary source of eggs. In Thebes, Egypt, the tomb of Haremhab, dating to approximately 1420 BCE, shows a depiction of a man carrying bowls of ostrich eggs and other large eggs, presumably those of the pelican, as offerings. In ancient Rome, eggs were preserved using a number of methods and meals often started with an egg course. The Romans crushed the shells in their plates to prevent evil spirits from hiding there.

In the Middle Ages, eggs were forbidden during Lent because of their richness, although the motivation for forgoing eggs during Lent was not entirely religious. An annual pause in egg consumption allowed farmers to rest their flocks, and also to limit their hens' consumption of feed during a time of year when food stocks were usually scarce.

Eggs scrambled with acidic fruit juices were popular in France in the seventeenth century; this may have been the origin of lemon curd.

The dried egg industry developed in the nineteenth century, before the rise of the frozen egg industry. In 1878, a company in St. Louis, Missouri started to transform egg yolk and egg white into a light-brown, meal-like substance by using a drying process. The production of dried eggs significantly expanded during World War II, for use by the United States Armed Forces and its allies.

In 1911, the egg carton was invented by Joseph Coyle in Smithers, British Columbia, to solve a dispute about broken eggs between a farmer in Bulkley Valley and the owner of the Aldermere Hotel. Early egg cartons were made of paper. Polystyrene egg cartons became popular in the latter half of the twentieth century as they were perceived to offer better protection especially against heat and breakage, however, by the twenty-first century environmental considerations have led to the return of more biodegradable paper cartons (often made of recycled material) that once again became more widely used.

Whereas the wild Asian fowl from which domesticated chickens are descended typically lay about a dozen eggs each year during the breeding season, several millennia of selective breeding have produced domesticated hens capable of laying more than three hundred eggs each annually, and to lay eggs year round.