Egg Trivia
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148 free Egg trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
45 free egg trivia questions with answers. An egg is one of the most ordinary things in the kitchen and one of the strangest objects in nature: a self-contained life-support system with 7,500 pores in its shell, a yolk held in place by spiral cords, and enough protein to feed a chick for three weeks. This quiz covers the science of the shell and yolk, the birds that lay the biggest and smallest eggs, and what humans have done with them, from Roman superstitions and medieval Lent to eggs Benedict, balut, century eggs and the West Point Eggnog Riot. It suits an Easter gathering, a food-themed pub quiz round, a classroom or a family game night. There are easy questions on egg colours and omelette fillings, and hard ones on Fabergé's workshop and French sauce history for anyone who wants a challenge. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference and each question carries its citation, so if a debate breaks out over whether the US really bans Kinder eggs, the source is right there.
30 of 148 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which New Zealand bird lays one of the largest eggs for its body size of any bird?
Kiwi
The kiwi's egg fills about a fifth of the female's body: she eats three times her usual amount while it grows, then has to fast for the last days because there is no room left for food.
Q 02Which hummingbird of Cuba, the smallest bird in the world, lays eggs no bigger than a pea?
Bee hummingbird
The bee hummingbird is about 6 centimetres long and weighs around 2 grams, yet Guinness gives the record for the smallest egg to its Jamaican cousin, the vervain hummingbird.
Q 03The largest egg of any living animal, 30 centimetres long, came from which species?
Whale shark
A whale shark egg 30 centimetres long is the largest on record, yet it was a rarity: the species normally keeps its eggs inside the mother until they hatch and gives birth to live young.
Q 04By a common rule of thumb, which feature of a hen predicts her eggshell colour?
The colour of her earlobes
The colour of her earlobes is only a rough guide: white-lobed breeds usually lay white eggs and red-lobed breeds brown, but it is the breed's genes, not the lobe, that set shell colour.
Q 05The Araucana, a chicken breed from Chile, is famous for laying eggs of what colour?
Blue
Blue shells come from a single dominant gene, which a 2013 study traced to a retrovirus lodged in the breed's DNA; crossed with brown-egg hens, the gene gives green or olive eggs.
Q 06Which mineral makes up almost all of a chicken eggshell?
Calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate is about 97 percent of the shell, which is why a day or two in vinegar strips it away and leaves a raw egg held together only by its membrane.
Q 07What are the spiral bands of tissue that hold the yolk in the centre of an egg white called?
Chalazae
Chalazae are two twisted cords of egg white that tie the yolk to the membrane at either end of the shell; the name is the Greek word for a hailstone or hard lump.
Q 08A very fresh chicken egg has a small air cell and earns which US quality rating?
Grade AA
Grade AA, the top USDA rating, goes to the freshest eggs, with a small air cell and a thick, firm white; the cell grows as an egg ages, so the grade slips with time in storage.
Q 09What is the most abundant protein in egg white?
Ovalbumin
Ovalbumin makes up about 54 percent of egg-white protein; when heated, it and its neighbours uncurl and bond into a mesh that traps the water, turning the clear white opaque and firm.
Q 10The yellow of an egg yolk comes from lutein and zeaxanthin, which belong to what class of pigments?
Carotenoids
Lutein and zeaxanthin are carotenoids, the same family of yellow-orange pigments as the beta-carotene in carrots; hens cannot make them, so yolk colour tracks the pigments in their feed.
Q 11The greenish ring that forms around the yolk of an overcooked boiled egg is caused by which compound?
Iron(II) sulfide
Iron(II) sulfide forms where sulfur driven off the overheated white meets the iron-rich yolk; plunging the eggs into cold water straight after boiling largely prevents it.
Q 12Why do American supermarkets refrigerate eggs when most European shops do not?
US eggs are washed, stripping the cuticle
US eggs are washed, stripping the cuticle that seals the shell against bacteria, so they have to stay chilled from farm to store; many European countries bar washing and vaccinate hens instead.
Q 13A 2002 USDA analysis found roughly what proportion of eggs is contaminated with Salmonella?
Q 21Why is a Chinese tea egg also called a 'marble egg'?
Its cracked shell stains the white
Its cracked shell stains the white: the boiled egg is tapped all over, then simmered again in tea, soy sauce and spices, which seep in and leave dark veins; street vendors sell them from steaming pots.
Q 22Lemuel Benedict claimed he invented eggs Benedict at the Waldorf in 1894 while seeking a cure for what?
A hangover
A hangover sent the Wall Street broker to the Waldorf, where he ordered buttered toast, crisp bacon, poached eggs and hollandaise; maître d' Oscar Tschirky later swapped in ham and an English muffin.
Q 23At Southern and Midwestern church suppers, deviled eggs go by which tamer adjective?
Dressed
One in 30,000
One in 30,000: the 2002 USDA risk analysis estimated about 2.3 million contaminated eggs among the 69 billion produced a year, far rarer than the popular fear suggests.
Q 14As of 2023, which country lays over a third of the world's eggs, far more than any other?
China
China produced about 36 million tonnes of eggs in 2023, over a third of the world total; India, at about 8 million tonnes, has overtaken the United States for second place.
Q 15Which prolific white-egg chicken breed takes its name from the Italian port of Livorno?
Leghorn
Leghorn is the old English name for Livorno, the Tuscan port that shipped the first birds to America; small hens that can lay over 300 eggs a year, they became the stock behind commercial white-egg flocks.
Q 16Chickens, the source of most eggs eaten today, were first domesticated in which region?
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is home to the red junglefowl, the chicken's wild ancestor; a 2022 study places the first clear chickens in central Thailand about 3,500 years ago, drawn to villages by stored rice and millet.
Q 17Ancient Romans broke or pierced their empty eggshells straight after eating for what reason?
To guard against evil spells
To guard against evil spells: Pliny the Elder wrote that everyone dreaded being bewitched, so the shells of eggs and snails were broken or pierced with the spoon as soon as they were emptied.
Q 18During Lent in medieval Western Europe, what was the Church's rule on eggs?
Forbidden, like meat and dairy
Forbidden, like meat and dairy: the fast barred flesh and everything that came from it, eggs, milk and cheese included, and that long gap is one root of giving eggs at Easter.
Q 19A century egg is cured in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, rice hulls and what?
Quicklime
Quicklime makes the coating strongly alkaline, and over weeks the alkali seeps through the shell, turning the white to dark translucent jelly and the yolk creamy grey-green.
Q 20Which Filipino street food is a fertilised duck egg, incubated for about 17 days, then boiled and eaten from the shell?
Balut
Balut is incubated well short of hatching, so the duck embryo is formed but still soft; diners crack the top of the shell and sip the broth before eating the rest.
'Dressed eggs' spares churchgoers the word devil, which in the kitchen only means heavily seasoned: here, the mustard and pepper beaten into the yolk filling.
Q 24Which London department store claims to have invented the Scotch egg?
Fortnum & Mason
Fortnum & Mason, the Piccadilly grocer, claims the Scotch egg as its own invention; a rival account has it born in Whitby, Yorkshire, coated in fish paste rather than sausage meat.
Q 25The Denver omelette, also called a Western omelette, is traditionally filled with ham, onions and what?
Green bell peppers
Green bell peppers go in with diced ham and onion; slipped between two slices of bread, the same omelette becomes the Denver, or Western, sandwich.
Q 26Shakshouka, eggs poached in a spiced tomato and pepper sauce, is generally traced to which region?
The Maghreb
The Maghreb, the north-west corner of Africa, is where most accounts place it; Jewish migrants from the region carried the dish to Israel, where it became a national favourite.
Q 27Which dessert hides ice cream under a shell of browned meringue?
Baked Alaska
Baked Alaska works because whipped egg white conducts heat poorly, so the ice cream stays frozen for the minute or two the meringue needs to brown; Delmonico's restaurant made it famous.
Q 28Which Italian pasta dish is made with raw beaten egg, cured pork and grated cheese?
Carbonara
Carbonara is tossed away from the flame, so the heat of the pasta alone thickens the egg and cheese into a creamy coating without scrambling it; the name comes from the Italian for charcoal.
Q 29A popular theory names mayonnaise after the port of Mahón, on which Mediterranean island?
Menorca
Mahón is the capital of Menorca in the Balearics; the Duke of Richelieu's French troops took the port in 1756 during the Seven Years' War, which is when the sauce is thought to have been named.
Q 30The egg cream, a soda-fountain drink containing neither egg nor cream, is a speciality of which US city?
New York
New York's egg cream is only milk, chocolate syrup and seltzer, stirred hard to raise a foamy head; it grew up in the Jewish candy stores of the Lower East Side and Brooklyn.