Young and old alike love eggs. Beyond omelettes and poached eggs, people make all sorts of egg dishes. This small egg is linked to countless fun facts and incredible records. Eating, breaking, decorating or throwing, there seems no end to human creativity and curiosity around eggs. Guinness World Records lists egg feats that are sure to surprise.

Anyone can break an egg, but breaking 30 eggs in a minute is no ordinary feat, the article says. The record was set by an American named Rossi McCurdy, who in 2011 in the United States broke 32 eggs by hand in one minute. The condition was that the shells had to be separated; not a single egg could stay intact.

Remember the marble-and-spoon race at school? Ashrita Furman of India set a record running with an egg in the same way. She ran 100 metres with the egg in her mouth in just 39.91 seconds. Ashrita has not stopped at this record: she is one of the people holding the most records in the Guinness book.

An omelette is a great breakfast. But what if it were made not with 10 or 20 eggs, but with 429,550? In 2010, 43 chefs together made a giant omelette in the Turkish city of Akash. It weighed about 6.8 tonnes, and the whole town ate it in a festival-like event.

In 2011, Andy Sanderson of the United Kingdom set a surprising record. He caught 11 raw eggs thrown from 10 metres away with one hand, without cracking a single one. The record demanded agility, perfect timing and a lot of practice.

The egg toss is popular in many countries. In 2013, two friends from the United States, Johnny Daly and Keith Thomas, threw and caught an egg over 98.51 metres. The partner almost 100 metres away caught the raw egg perfectly, without breaking or cracking it.

Eggs have their own place in eating contests. An American competitor, Joey Chestnut, ate 141 hard-boiled eggs at one sitting in just eight minutes. His rivals gave up before passing 100. No one has broken the record yet.

Painting eggs for Easter is an old custom still followed in many countries. In 2012, a huge display of 14,000 coloured eggs was made in Kyiv, Ukraine. The eggs were hand-painted, each with a different design, and about 50,000 people came to see the display.

In 2019, something strange happened in internet history. A photo of an ordinary brown egg was posted on Instagram with the caption: let's break Kylie Jenner's record. Within just a few weeks it received more than 55.5 million likes, and it is still Instagram's most-liked photo. The egg became known as the World Record Egg and an internet cult icon.

A special event was held in Uttar Pradesh, India, in 2018, where 5,000 people together cooked and ate eggs in just 30 minutes. The aim of the festival was to promote eggs as a nutritious food for everyone.

It is said that on two days a year, the spring and autumn equinoxes, an egg can be balanced upright on its own. Although scientifically this is possible at any time, people around the world try to stand eggs on these days hoping to set records. In some Chinese cities, thousands of people celebrate the day together by standing eggs upright.

The article cites the Guinness Book of World Records.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.