Featured Image Credit: Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images
Topics: UK Food, Social Media
Rachael Davis
Cultural differences between the UK and US can catch you off-guard.
Considering the US started out as a British territory, and that we share a language and no end of films, TV shows and popular brands, you’d think we’d be more similar than we actually are.
Everything from street layouts to portion sizes can be jarringly different when you make your first visit across the Atlantic, and food preferences can be particularly pronounced.
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US food regulations are, after all, notoriously more lax than they are in the UK and EU, depriving those of us on the European side of the glorious US-made Cheetos. Honestly, the artificial whatever that goes into them is more than worth the potential health consequences.
Anyway, if you’re a born and bred Brit then it might never have occurred to you that an egg cup could baffle our cousins across the pond. After all, a nation so proud of its military surely wouldn’t neglect to serve a plate of egg and soldiers to its kids, right?
As has been discovered via a Reddit post, boiled and soldiers is another cultural touchstone that we, surprisingly, don’t share.
“Are egg cups for boiled eggs actually used by everyday Brits or is it just a TV thing?” asked the original post, adding: “I’ve seen these on British TV, but in the US we don’t use them. Boiled eggs where I’m at are just eaten with our hands. Just asking out of curiosity.”
To this a helpful user responded: “They're used for soft boiled eggs, where the yolk is still runny and the white, though cooked, is still soft. They're eaten hot, with buttered bread or toast for dipping into the yolk. Too messy and too hot to be eaten using just hands.”
What ensued was a wholesale love-in for the humble boiled egg and soldiers, with even the American contingent admitting: “I could see my kids loving this too.”
“My kids have eggs and soldiers a few times a week,” proclaimed one proud parent.
“I use a couple of shot glasses, liberated from a pub in my student days,” said one keen to showcase their alternative egg cups.
“Cheap and easy, the skill is in boiling the egg so the yolk is runny and the white is not,” said another.
“Yesss. It takes practice to get the egg at the right dippiness though,” concurred another. “Cut the top off the egg, add some butter and maybe salt then dip your buttered toast soldiers in.”
For those struggling to get the consistency right, another user shared a helpful tip: “I got my son an egg timer from Lakeland, it goes in the pan with eggs and cold water and has little lines where the colour changes to show you soft, medium or hard boiled. It costs me a lot in terms of egg consumption but has meant he can make a perfect lunch or snack when he needs.”
A final American comment added: “Wait wait wait wait. Dippy egg? So is the point of these cups that you can take off the top and dip your toast into the yolk? It’s so the egg doesn’t fall over and spill the yolk all over the plate? I never understood these egg cup things (American) but if that’s what they’re for that actually makes sense and would be helpful.”
They might never admit that beans on toast is a breakfast, lunch or dinner of champions, but at least our friends in the US will agree a soft-boiled egg and soldiers is a hell of a treat.