The mystery of the chocolate eggs 🇮🇹🇬🇧

If you ever wondered where the tradition of the chocolate surprise egg comes from, you’re not alone. Ever since I unwrapped Kinder eggs or broke open chocolate Easter eggs, I’ve been wondering about this mystery.

This time Italian genius has nothing to do with it, and neither does the mastery of Swiss chocolate processing.

The story, however, is intriguing and comes from cold Mother Russia. At the end of the 19th century, a very famous goldsmith and jeweller, Peter Carl Fabergé (in Russian: Карл Густавович Фаберже), was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III to create a sumptuous egg, made of metals and precious stones, to give to Tsarina Marina Feodorovna. The result was a very precious object decorated with platinum and enamel that contained a jewel inside.

Chocolate arrived almost simultaneously but we owe the work to the Englishman John Cadbury, the chocolate king of Birmingham, who took his cue from the Russians and invented the first chocolate egg with a surprise, kicking off the marketing of the much-loved and world-famous chocolate treat.

But where do Easter eggs come from and why are they used, even if not made of chocolate, in all cultures? It is a pagan rite linked to fertility; in fact, it was believed that the act of decoration could magically give happiness, health and protection. Eggs carried by the Easter bunny are another symbol of fertility and sexual potency.

Finally, I point out a curiosity that I fished from the Encyclopædia Britannica, which says: “The English noun Easter [Pasqua in Italian] has an uncertain origin; Venerable Bede, an 8th-century Anglo-Saxon clergyman, traced it to Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring.” Other reference works relate it to Astarte, the Phoenician goddess of fertility, who finds her Babylonian counterpart in Ishtar.

In contrast, the ancient Egyptians considered the egg to be the fulcrum of the four elements of the universe (water, fire, air and earth), while the first to exchange chicken eggs were the Persians. Then the caravanserai evolved with shell decorations, especially in the Middle Ages. In Bulgaria, egg battles are famous, where contestants knock each other’s egg, with the intention of breaking their opponent’s. Of course, the eggs are boiled first.

But the biggest mystery has not yet been solved. Which is better, the milk chocolate or the dark chocolate easter egg?

I’m yet to decide and maybe I’ll go for both. The important thing is that the surprise does not disappoint.

Written by Emanuele Piva

Translation of Max Fletcher