The Anecdote of Life: Tea Leaf Eggs by Mei Han Hsu

Mei Han Hsu, an undergraduate student who studies in Hospitality and Travel Management at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Mei Han is a 23 years old Taiwanese girl who has been traveled and explored various cultures around the globe. Moreover, she loves to learn and experience new sense of other cultural behavior through meeting new people and being in new environment. However, there is no exception; no matter where you have been, breathing in home country is the sweetest aroma which stimulate the sense of smell you can always remember, and recognizes you that you are now in a peaceful motherland. Untouchably but yearnfully, Mei Han always keeps a deep close connection with her home country in her mind. The simple, easy traditional Chinese dish of tea leaf eggs brings her to the unforgettable memory of her childhood with her family and friends; meanwhile, it can also be described as a reflection of life struggles and achievement in her real life event. Mei Han believes sharing food is the greatest way to connect with future generation and with different ethnics as well. Food is not only simple as a common dish but also including internal human emotions.

Why people love eggs? The egg is small, but the knowledge behind it affect to individual’s health, such as the great source of protein and fat in eggs helps sustain your energy levels, protect your eyesight, and help with brain development and memory keeping you satisfied for longer and reducing the need of snacks. Who said egg could only be made with scrambled, fried, boiled, over easy, poached or sunny side up. My favourite way of egg is the fragrant and flavourful tea leaf eggs.  A tea-leaf-egg is a type of snack-food that was prepared by my mother during field trips. For this paper, I will use the simple process of preparing the aforesaid snack-food to represent the real life events. Notably, the entire procedure of cooking this recipe is a reflection of life struggles and achievements in that matter. I got introduced to this recipe at a very young age - during my primary school years. My mother liked to cook the snack, since it consisted of fewer procedures and thus saved her a lot of time to complete other house chores.

When I first touch tea-leaf-eggs and became to feel interested in eating and experiencing the delicious food from the initially external flavour. The tea-leaf eggs are cheap and tasty; moreover, it is great source for the health. It may prevent breast cancers, healthy hair and nails, because of its high content and wide array of vitamins and minerals. Proudly, Tea-leaf-eggs are a common recipe in Asia and my first taste of the snack happened while I was 4 years old. It happened, while we were at the farmers market. A lady happened to be hawking the snack in her cart and shouting “tea leaf eggs tea leaf eggs” while the steam from the steamer that blossom visually hiding the eggs. I remember well the faint scent of tea, herbs and some spices that mostly attracted my attention. After my first intake, it was a treasure from cloudy pot; I learned that the snack was chewy, tender and stretchy. There were cracks everywhere within the eggshells, which formed dark lines that represented marble-like patterns. Nowadays, tea-leaf-eggs can be seen in different places in Taiwan such as convenience stores and street restaurants.

After loving eating tea-leaf-eggs, I gradually start to think about a deep thinking from the long-time complicated process of making a delicious tea-leaf-egg: More Boiled, more mellow of being the egg, which is the same as people’s life, people will be more mature if experiencing many possible things through lifetime. The entire recipe for cooking this snack is simple and concise. The different flavour of the snack results from the length of time, used while cooking and the ingredients used in the process. The recipe for cooking the snack involves intense boiling of the eggs, till they become solid inside and after boiling they are cooled by cold water. After cooling, my mother made some cracks around the shell of the egg with her tea spoon, ensuring that the egg was still whole. The purpose was to create the beautiful pattern and allow tea and herbs flavors to get into the crack-formed egg. Then the eggs were dipped into spicy mix of tea, herbs, soy-sauce, sugar and other spices and cooked for some time. My mother preferred such Chinese tea leaves: pu-er普洱, oolong 乌龙and tie guan yin 铁观音 in order to come up with a strong flavour (Wikipedia.Org 1). From my mother’s own perspective, she always added extra herbal taste when she made tea leaf eggs, because she believes the stronger the taste of herbs can touch individual’s appetite. Continually, the eggs were cooked for another 2 or 3 hours, to bring out the required taste. Notwithstanding, the longer time, used in cooking the snack, the more intense was the flavour of the eggs and they became sweeter. The snack is served, while hot, with simmered rice or other preferred meals. In addition, for some time during the summer season, my mother always put them in refrigerator for the cold tender and jelly soft taste, which is a unique but excellent snack to against dried hot summer.

The following recipe for cooking the flavoured mixture for two persons:

-2 tablespoons black, non-floral tea or 2 black tea leaves

- 1 cinnamon stick

- 2 star anise

- 2 small pieces of dried tangerine/orange peel

- 3 cloves

- 6 peppercorns, lightly bruised

- 2 small pieces of dang gui aka Angelica Sinensis, Chinese Angelica Root

According to my mother, food master said, making a delicious tea-leaf-egg, which should take certain levels of boiling and cooking. Life is no exception, which also needs to assume different levels of external pressures to enhance internal strength. Memorably, when my classmates in school, learned that I had brought the snack, they would always want me to exchange it for their snacks. This snack always reminds me of my life in school and will forever remain within my heart, as an indispensable food cooked by my mother’s own model. My mother used to cook the tea leaf eggs in order to teach us the anecdote about life. She always compared life to the cooking of tea leaf eggs. People were expected to undergo a great deal of suffering and patience in order to allow more time for matter to go the right way. It is clearly evident that one has to undergo difficult situations and unfortunate life events, just like the fractures and cracks of the eggs. In this manner, people got prepared for the way ahead through instilling the elements of maturity and perfectionism.

The overall lesson about the recipe lies in the fact that it allows one to perceive life in a rather different, mature view. My mother always said: “The more twists and turns you encounter, the more successes you will gain. No pain, no gain. There is an indispensable treasure in our life”. These words still linger in my head. Since moving to Canada, I prepare this recipe in order to diminish homesickness. The recipe remains to be one of my most favourite snacks.