Talk:Century egg

Is there any reliable reference for the name "世紀蛋"?
As a Chinese I have never heard this name. And it literally means "century egg", where "century" isn't a native Chinese concept either. I highly doubt it's a legit term in Chinese. The corresponding Chinese article does not mention this name either. Ahyangyi (talk) 15:09, 12 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Pinging User:THE IMPERIOUS DORK, who made the addition. --Paul_012 (talk) 04:13, 13 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Bold 203.218.130.16 (talk) 14:34, 6 March 2024 (UTC)

Isn't that weird how if you're a citizen of America, you're an American; but if you're a citizen of China you're " / a Chinese / " .. And it just looks so strange and sounds like a 96yr old white southern guy's racial epithet? Sorry to go there! -From Peter {a.k.a. Vid2vid (talk | contribs)} 06:52, 22 June 2021 (UTC)

2 questions.
Greetings,

1. According to this article, " ... a young duck farmer by the name of shuige (水哥, lit. water-brother), also from Hunan, leaving duck eggs in the garden of a woman by the name of songmei (松妹, lit. pine-sister) ... " [My emphasis.] Does this mean that Chinese persons do not capitalize their names? I've always seen them capitalized, but is this a "westernism" and not an authentic practice?

2. There's nothing about the taste of the preserved eggs beyond "an ammonia smell". I just watched an episode of the PBS show, "I'll Have What Phil is Having" where traveler Phil Rosenthal visits Hong Kong and eats some century egg. In his opinion, it has a very strong taste of ammonia and commented to the effect that there was not enough food in the rest of the meal to get the taste out of his mouth. Throughout the rest of the episode, he referred to that meal as "egg night" and called it "that terrible egg". How do most people find the taste? Is it one of those things that you have to grow up eating to appreciate? Please don't leave out this important aspect of a food article!

Thank you for your time, Wordreader (talk) 19:52, 29 March 2020 (UTC)


 * I just found a post in the Archive section. Wylizzle requested information on the taste of the eggs in 2019. But apparently nobody responded to that request. Has nobody mentioned the taste in any citable way? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Century_egg/Archive_1#Taste?


 * Again, thank you, Wordreader (talk) 20:22, 29 March 2020 (UTC)
 * On #1, we don't have capitalization in Chinese. Hanyu Pinyin orthography does though, and it does capitalize in the western way. Not that anyone knows the orthography except for geeks -- nobody teaches that. We learn more English at school than about writing Chinese in pure Pinyin. So just capitalize it like you usually do in English, i. e. how it is now.
 * On #2, Asian shrug. Artoria2e5 🌉 15:47, 25 November 2022 (UTC)

2 oops 3 questions from me as inspired from the above. #1. No one has answered the Chinese proper names all lowercase thing? Great q. #2. No one has a citeable / citable source for the taste? I mean surely a reputable journalist would've covered this by now. #3. Who are these people that put a period outside double quotes?! It looks so incorrect. -From Peter {a.k.a. Vid2vid (talk | contribs)} 06:49, 22 June 2021 (UTC)

Yuurrrchky Yuck! Not 'balut' - that is different!
O.m.g. this sounds like it would stink a rotten hell of a corpse and sulfur stink. I'm almost certain but has anyone confirmed if Century Egg is not the same thing and or related to the nearly equally gross/disgusting Balut ? Thanks. -From Peter {a.k.a. Vid2vid (talk | contribs)} 06:44, 22 June 2021 (UTC)


 * It's not that bad. I mean, McD and KFC in China serve Cent. egg & chicken meat congee as a regular breakfast item. They wouldn't do that if doing so stinks up their place. My biased (and admittedly picky, I mean I don't go for durian or stinky tofu!) palate might say "not bad at all", but then I grew up with it so that might not count. Artoria2e5 🌉 15:41, 25 November 2022 (UTC)

Is lead an "unscrupulous" thing, or has it been the norm in the past?
The 1981 Hunger and Technology article clearly has no issue with the use of lead in these eggs, as the author simply said it's "simpler" and did not mention anything about illegality. I have a vague feeling that we are looking at a leaded gasoline situation: for a long while people found it useful and kept it as the norm, until overwhelming evidence/concern of harm stopped its general use. We should try to answer the following questions about the use of Pb:


 * When was it introduced?
 * When was it acceptable, if any? Were there any harm-limiting practices while they did it?
 * What caused its demise? Consumer choice, regulation, technology, or many at once?

While we are at it, what is the black spot issue with contemporary lead-free eggs the zinc article talks about?

Artoria2e5 🌉 15:39, 25 November 2022 (UTC)

Nutritional value
Needs a section on this. Unfortunately a quick google search shows lots of unscientific claims. Kelly222 (talk) 21:37, 21 September 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: The Microbiology of College Life
— Assignment last updated by Jason.DeLaCruz1313 (talk) 00:31, 10 May 2024 (UTC)