Food Safety...what?

I went out to lunch last week with some colleagues. One lovely thing about France is that you can have a 3 course lunch with wine, and c’est normal. As an appetizer (in French it’s called the entrée, because it’s the entrance to the meal), my colleagues all ordered an oeuf coquette (coddled egg??). I’ve never tried this before, so I thought I’d give it a try. Having experimented in France before, I knew that often food was shocking to an American, so I asked my coworker, “Is the egg cooked?” She told me that the egg was cooked in cream, and was eaten with bread. Sounds delicious! When my oeuf arrived, it was indeed in cream, but also clearly Not Cooked. It was a ramekin of hot cream, with a raw egg poured in the center. I can be comfortable with raw yolks, but typically the egg white is firm. This egg white was clear and gelatinous and stringy – a perfectly raw egg. Growing up in America, we learn early on that eating raw eggs, much like raw hamburger, is a risky activity. Well although this may be true, it is clearly not a risk that concerns the French. I said “um, this oeuf is not cooked.” To which my colleagues looked at me with puzzled expressions and said “oh yes, it’s cooked.” And dug into their meals. So after a 2 second pause, I started in on mine too. And it was delicious. Just need to get used to taking a deep breath and eating whatever is in front of me – without thinking about it too much!