This might come as a surprise to some, but our ancestors enjoyed runny eggs two million years ago just as much as Millennials do today. If Instagram was a thing back then, you can bet that they would have been posting on the regular with the hashtag #yolkporn.

Eating eggs isn’t new, and it’s certainly not a trend, but people’s outward exuberance over sitting down to eat a runny egg makes it feel like it is. People aren’t just eating eggs. They’re obsessing over them. Everything from burgers and pizza to oatmeal is topped with eggs as though they are a condiment or sauce. No longer just a main dish, eggs are added to just about everything on the menu right now.

Maybe it’s because protein diets are so big right now or because of the brunch and breakfast-for-dinner trend. Maybe it’s because this satiating, comfort food is finally considered healthy again (for now), but eggs are everywhere. If you can eat it, some chef out there is offering to put an egg on it.

put an egg on it

Put An Egg On It

Where the egg goes, so goes protein, creaminess, and flavor. It used to be rare to see menus with egg add-ons. Now it’s rare to find a menu without it. Not that we’re complaining.

  • Pizza. An egg is cracked on a partially baked pizza, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and returned to the oven. We haven’t yet had our fill of carbonara pizza this year.
  • Burgers. Add an egg and hold the special sauce.
  • Toasts. Top a piece of toasted artisan bread with avocado or hummus, vegetables, and a perfectly poached egg — breakfast is served.
  • Salad. A simple salad becomes a meal when you top it with an egg or two.

The Chicken Came First

We all know and love the chicken egg, but chefs are experimenting with different kinds of eggs. Look for quail eggs, duck eggs, turkey eggs, emu eggs, and yes, even ostrich eggs on menus. (We’re going to need a bigger piece of avocado toast…)

Internationally-Inspired Egg Dishes

Our American appetite for eggs is matched only by our appetite for international flavors, so it’s only natural that egg dishes from around the world should find their way to menus here. These are some of our favorite global breakfast egg dishes that we’ve been eating this year.

  • Shakshuka is an Israeli dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, and spiced with cumin.
  • Khachapuri is a traditional Georgian cheese-filled bread that we talked about in this food trend prediction post. The cheese and egg are in the middle. The crust is ripped off and used to dip in the cheese and egg.
  • Ramen with onsen tamago is a traditional Japanese bowl of broth, ramen noodles, vegetables, meat, and a soft, low-temperature egg.
  • Chilaquiles is a Mexican breakfast of fried corn tortillas tossed with red or green salsa and topped with cheese and eggs.

Flash-In-The-Pan Yolks

If you blinked, you might have missed all of the excitement over cloud eggs. Cloud eggs are eggs that have separated; the whites are whipped stiff like a meringue, spread flat, topped with the yolk, and baked. The result is an Instagram and YouTube craze that came as quickly as it went. We expect to see more egg trends like this in the future.

To Sum Up

Whether as an Instagramable novelty, an ode to the flavors of our homeland, or as a replacement for a sauce or other condiment, eggs of all kinds are topping many dishes on menus, and we can’t get enough.

Thanks for stopping by and reading the Food & Drink Resources blog. Here we talk about food trends, culinary innovation, and the work of our team.