We tend to take simple things for granted. It is easy to forget how big a role eggs play in almost all food cultures and diets worldwide.
Unless you are a vegan, you almost certainly eat eggs. They have been consumed by humans since prehistoric times, and almost all nations have their own signature egg dishes.
Take the simple omelette - a French word but an almost universal dish.
In its classic folded form the omelette is ubiquitous in, among other places, France, all the French- and English-speaking countries and in Thailand, where kai yat sai means 'eggs with stuffing'.
In Spain, the tortilla de patatas, a more solid omelette for which the egg binds rather than wraps the fried potatoes, is a national dish. Italy's frittata is prepared similarly, and Japan also likes its omelettes firm in the form of tamagoyaki. Distinctive omelettes of one kind or another are also to be found in China, India and the Middle East.
Other egg specialities to be found in Hong Kong include preserved duck eggs, such as Yung Kee's famous century eggs, and egg tarts - also a speciality in Macau from where Lord Stow's Bakery on Coloane has built up a franchise network for its paseis de nata, which includes outlets in Osaka, Seoul, Manila, and at EXpresso at the Excelsior Hotel in Causeway Bay.