Raw Eggs Are So Popular To Eat In Japan, There Are Entire Buffets For Them

In Japan, it is common to see the locals eating raw eggs for breakfast for a quintessential Japanese breakfast and with meals like Japanese hot pot. (I ate so many raw eggs on our trips to Japan and loved it!) It turns out that, unlike in America, raw eggs are quite safe to consume in Japan. In fact, there are entire buffets for them. One such buffet, located in Tokyo, is called Kisaburo Farm, where for 1600 yen, or about $10.70, you can eat an unlimited amount of eggs you pick yourself from large baskets, served with rice, sides, and garnishes, or as a meal set. Each egg is different, as the hens that lay them have been fed different feeds.

What makes Japanese eggs safer to consume raw when compared to those in the United States? In Japan, you won't run a huge risk of getting food-borne illnesses from salmonella because all eggs are cleaned and heat-treated. Once a chicken lays an egg, the egg goes through a specialized cleaning machine that scrubs dirt and bacteria from the shell without breaking the egg. These machines are highly specialized and can clean about 33 eggs per second. While not exactly pasteurized, these eggs are also heat-treated.  

As a result, there is only about a 0.003% of getting salmonella poison from consuming raw eggs in Japan. Thus, thanks to quality control, a low chance of salmonella poisoning, and the Japanese considering eggs to be a good source of nutrients, raw eggs are a popular staple across Japan.

While the chance is very low, especially when compared to the United States, a few thousand Japanese people do contract salmonella annually from eating raw eggs. So if you happen to find yourself at an unlimited raw egg buffet in Japan, know that you are still taking a low risk. If this minimal risk doesn't faze you, then go ham at an egg buffet. 

But if eating unlimited raw eggs and the meal sets at Kisaburo Farm, don't appeal to you, you can enjoy raw eggs at breakfast joints and restaurant chains like Sukiya or Yoshinoya instead. At either chain, you can order gyudon (or beef bowl) and mix a raw egg into the bowl, making the entire dish creamier. Then, there are Japanese hot pot or sukiyaki restaurants where you use raw eggs as a dipping sauce to make meats silkier. 

Stir fried dishes, such as chicken shogayaki, can also come with raw eggs as a dipping sauce. Udon and noodle soup dishes for dinner can also often come with raw eggs on top. Once broken and stirred into the noodles, the soup base becomes creamier, and the noodles silkier and delicious.