(Mods... if this is not in the proper category, please feel free to move it... thanks!)
Are eggs considered dairy?
I say NO.
"...the word dairy only has to do with milk and cream and related products: sour cream, butter, cheese, yogurt, etc. You may often find eggs and dairy categorized together (several Ochef directory pages lump them together, for example), but they remain as distinct as the species from which they come."
Eggs are PROTEIN, but not dairy. If it's not about milk, cream, butter, cheese, then it's not dairy.
Wrong? Right? Stupid question?
Last edited by Beach Patrol; 01-14-2008 at 03:23 PM.
Weren't eggs considered dairy in one of the older "food group" days before the food pyramid?
I agree though that in modern usage, eggs would not be considered dairy. I believe when Weight Watcher's was an exchange plan, any food with 20 - 25% RDA of calcium could be used as a dairy serving (though that doesn't by definition make it dairy).
I've heard vegetarians claim that eggs are dairy -- so they can eat them without having to defend themselves. I think it comes from two things: 1) how the eggs are procured and 2) the grocery store!
1) Eggs, like dairy products, are taken from animals without (under normal circumstances) hurting them. Milk the cow, collect the eggs from the henhouse. The two become associated -- meat is what comes from killing the animal, and you don't kill the hen to get the egg. People don't always intuitively make the connection between baby chick and egg.
2) The grocery store probably plays a role here too... Eggs are always shelved with the diary, not the meats or anything else. So we get funny visual associations like that and over time I'd imagine it sinks in.
No, why would you think that it is considered dairy?
I don't think so, but other people have INSISTED to me that I am "eating dairy" when I eat eggs. I say No way! - eggs are simply chickens that haven't been born yet. They're more of the MEAT group than they are dairy. I got called a "stupid" name when I said that.
In Jewish dietary law, "dairy" refers to foods that can be eaten with milk:
"...Of or pertaining to those foods, including all milk products, eggs, fish, vegetables, etc., that may be eaten at a meal in which milk is served, in contrast to meat and meat products, which may not."
So that may be why they say you are "eating dairy" when you eat eggs.
More than likely, her friends think eggs are dairy because they can be found in the dairy section of the grocery store Refer them to the wiki entry on dairy. Better yet, ask them to call any dairy association and ask them if eggs are dairy. See who feels stupid then
Eggs are sometimes categorized as dairy, defining dairy as "food that is produced by animals (other than meat)" rather than as milk specifically. For example, the Open Directory Project at one point listed cooking eggs as a subcategory of cooking dairy products. Defining dairy as limited to milk products, however, is more common.
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I looked up a few more resources, and I think it's less a "stupid question" than on first glance. Eggs were once more commonly considered dairy, and the word dairy apparently comes from an Old English word meaning "female baker of bread" - also the origin of the word dough. Which has little to do with milk or eggs.
I found a poster on allposters website that said "Dairy Products - Milk, Eggs, Cheese).
Ok, somebody stop me. In college, I got the nickname, trivia queen, because if it's perfectly useless information, it gets stuck in my head, and I will remember it forever! (Now if it's something important like a locker combination or where I parked my car or put my car keys, you can forget it - because I already have).
Is this a stupid question?
