jaja

Was it "K E Double L O Double Good, Kellogg's Best to You?" I think so but I'm old and forgetful.

adrienne

jaja - yes it was. I had forgotten that the Monkees sang the jingle. It certainly was a long time ago but I remembered it as soon as I saw Kellogg's spelled incorrectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joXZiqV8fWM

vinoroma

Kybourbon, sassafras; i do have a scientific source for it but not at hand at the moment, will look for it and link later. But the explanation is: the egg, before being boiled, has a protective coating on the shell (be it the natural or the sprayed on after washing version common in the usa). When you boil the egg, no matter what temp water you start out with, at the beginning you have the protective coating; in the end you have sterilized water and egg shell but no more protective coating. The shell is naturally porous. So now if you introduce (unsterilized) cold tap water to this completely unprotected and porous shell, the bacteria in the water are very effectively transferred to the inside of the egg. The temp difference is not the only reason, but that even intensifies the absorbtion. Unrefrigerated, this means quick spoilage. If you do not introduce unsterile water to the warm egg, it will keep longer unrefrigerated.

PatrickLondon

>>The eggs, btw, would only be for the first day in case you were wondering and I would put it on ice. as for fruits and vegetables, it's easier to have some with us for the first few days, in case there's no supermarket or grocery nearby.<<

Wouldn't it be easier just to ask whoever you've booked accommodation with where the nearest supermarket/grocery is? If it's self-catering they would be expecting to provide that information anyway.

Or am I getting a faint suggestion of a pull on my leg?

>>Well you can't be too careful with food in foreign parts<<

Especially Beverley:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpUn9tzwj2E

Josser

Yes, I detect the faint tinkling of leg bells.
Of course, the op could take pickled eggs. Imagine a jar of those breaking in your suitcase

Gretchen

If you do not introduce unsterile water to the warm egg, it will keep longer unrefrigerated

Umm, what about your handling it? Exposure to whatever is around? I don't believe that anyone suggests keeping Easter eggs unrefrigerated. A day or so maybe.

annhig

Wouldn't it be easier just to ask whoever you've booked accommodation with where the nearest supermarket/grocery is? If it's self-catering they would be expecting to provide that information anyway.>>

Patrick - google maps will tell you the same thing - having found your hotel on the map, you just need to put "supermarkets" in the search box and press the button.

BTW do you remember that Kellogg's advert with the Monkees being broadcast in the UK? i don't. [and sadly I'm old enough to remember the Monkees]

Is this a leg-pull? I thought of that but then I read some of the OP's other posts and decided that it probably wasn't.

I'd like to know why anyone would need, or indeed want to bring cans of tuna with them, though.

adrienne

<< I'd like to know why anyone would need, or indeed want to bring cans of tuna with them, though. >>

Because the OP is going to desperately poor areas, such as Zurich and Venice, and might have to walk half a block before finding a small grocery store.

I do feel sorry for someone who is going to Europe and will only eat tuna, cooked eggs and packaged meals (along with fruit and vegetables). Imagine what they're missing. Fresh fish (delicious) in Venice, fondue in Zurich, just to name a couple of wonderful things to eat.

ann - I wasn't saying that you had that advert in Britain, I was remembering it for myself when I saw the misspelling. I was amazed at the power of advertising that made me instantly remember that jingle decades later. I was using the word "advert" to show off my British English!

vincenzo32951

This is one of the funnier threads I've read, starting with the OP.

kybourbon

>>>Is this a leg-pull? I thought of that but then I read some of the OP's other posts and decided that it probably wasn't.<<<

I wondered that too. The OP seems to have gone on a few tours and didn't worry about taking food on them.

<<<<>>It isn't as if you put an egg into boiling water to start with. <<

It isn't?<<<<

No, it isn't. Eggs are placed in a pan of cold water and brought to a boil. No one is placing eggs in sterilized water to hard boil them.

>>>The eggs, btw, would only be for the first day in case you were wondering and I would put it on ice. as for fruits and vegetables, it's easier to have some with us for the first few days, in case there's no supermarket or grocery nearby.<<<

Gross. Eggs would not only stink up the plane (or your luggage), but you can't take ice anyway. Your plane is not landing in a random field somewhere with nothing around. Any airport in Europe would have a nearby grocery as do the major cities you listed. Fresh fruit and vegetables aren't allowed so you would have to go to a grocery anyway although you can usually find some fruit even in airports.

vjpblovesitaly

I use my veggie steamer to "hard boil" eggs

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-AND-DE...p2054897.l5658

vincenzo32951

>>No, it isn't. Eggs are placed in a pan of cold water and brought to a boil. No one is placing eggs in sterilized water to hard boil them.<<

LOL! No one? You speak for the world on how to do a hard-boiled egg? See my previous comment.

vinoroma

Gretchen, whatever is around the eggs, if not water, is air. Then touching some solids. Both are worse media then liquids, esp at extrem opposite temp to the hot egg, for transferring bacteria through the porous shell. And actually in germany hard boiled (at home) easter eggs are kept unrefrigerated for days, upto a week, with no adverse effects, and in supermarkets you can find them even with several months expiry dates. Yes, hardboiled and unrefrigerated. They have a special coating that is applied after boiling, thus sealing the shell back again.
Kybourbon (if that was directed at me) - i explained in above reply why it is irrelevant that the water is unsterile at the beginning.

annhig

ann - I wasn't saying that you had that advert in Britain, I was remembering it for myself when I saw the misspelling. I was amazed at the power of advertising that made me instantly remember that jingle decades later. I was using the word "advert" to show off my British English!>>

You mean that you don't use the word "advert" in the US? the things you learn on Fodors.

It seems funny to me that they didn't use it here - we had to suffer the Monkees for several series of their programme, as I recall.

sparkchaser

I can assure you that the word "advert" is used in the U.S. Certainly not as much as "ad" but it's used.

Gretchen

And actually in germany hard boiled (at home) easter eggs are kept unrefrigerated for days, upto a week, with no adverse effects, and in supermarkets you can find them even with several months expiry dates. Yes, hardboiled and unrefrigerated. They have a special coating that is applied after boiling, thus sealing the shell back again.

Since this has turned into a bacteriology seminar, you didn't say ANYwhere that they were resealed. And salmonella is not a problem in Europe--although 140* will kill it. And yes, I AM a bacteriologist.

vinoroma

Gretchen sorry, i don't understand your last comment. Can you explain? My interpretation is (and i might be wrong, so please clarify) you are saying my explanation is only valid for sealed eggs and not for unsealed? If so, no, it is true for unsealed eggs, too; the sealed eggs have even longer shelflife:
i am now in front of my computer and found my source. Unfortunately it is in german, it is a study by swiss Agency for food security (i am translating loosely, the exact official terminology might be slightly different, the equivalent to fda, i'd say): http://www.blv.admin.ch/themen/04678..._JjKbNoKSn6A--
Maybe you can run it through google translate, and if you are a bacteriologist, i am sure the tables of data will already make sense to you. Basically what they found out is home boiled and not cold water treated (and not sealed) eggs didn't have any alarming bacteria levels at room temperature even after 91 days, where as the cold water treated ones were already above tolerance level after 4 days. The industrially boiled and sealed eggs were practically "indestructable", within the scope of the study they did not find a time window after which the bacteria levels were alarming. They solely found sensory problems, but no bacterial threat in those even after many months.
As a conclusion the official recommendation of this swiss agency for home boiling is: not cold water treated, room temp, 1 month; cold water treated, room temp 2-3 days; cold water treated, refrigarated 1-2 weeks - these numbers are well below what they found in the study, the recommendations are "on the safe side" accounting for differently aged eggs at the time of boiling, porosity of shell, different levels of bacteria in the tap water.

annhig

well, I'm sure that the OP will find this debate fascinating.

if s/he ever returns.

PatrickLondon

I await with interest a thread on "How do you say "Have your eggs been kept refrigerated/in cold water/in sterilised water, and how long for", in German/Italian/Croat?".

krystyna_flores

I'd like to offer a reply on behalf of the OP. I came across this thread searching for the answer to the same basic inquiry. I am in a twelve step program for food addiction and as part of the program we are required to plan out 3 weighed and measured meals per day and commit to this meal plan to a sponsor. We are often advised to take food with us during travel as to not run into the possibility of not acquiring the adequate ingredients for said meal. It is easier to know that you have a 4oz can of tuna in your luggage than to worry about what might be available, where to find it and what the ingredients are( we abstain from flour and sugar) I hope this might satisfy some of the curiosity. Then the trip becomes more about the new experiences and connections rather than a binge fest around the globe. But that's just my experience.