WC7: Dan
So are we good to start?
Yes. We can. I mean I'm ready.
No need to be nervous. We have quite a bit of time scheduled, you're quite a busy person. Hard to get a hold of.
Sorry about that. One of our branches had a health and safety violation so its been a bit chaotic this month.
No worries at all. Lets start then. Could you give us a brief introduction. For the eyes that don't know you.
Of course. Hi everyone, I'm Dan. I work as the Catering Director for Egg Central, a company I founded to promote eggs in all its forms. From different chicken breeds to the artificial creation and engineering of other species and then the ways we can transform these raw ingredients into an experience to remember.
Amazing. What made you so... invested in eggs?
Well I'd like to say it was something sweet like how I came from a hard working family and eggs were the symbol of our parents hard work but its a bit darker than that.
I grew up in the countryside, a place now long gone called Abwynth. It was me and my grandparents living together in the family home. It had more rooms than people and most of the year was empty. Rooms I could run around imagining different worlds and go on adventures in. There was this one room
* cough * might we move one?
Oh yes sorry. Anyway, when I was about 5 years old a Chinese investment company started seeking approval for massive developments of our village. They wanted to create a new agricultural hub. Farms, food processing, logistics hubs, research and development labs.
By the time I was 10 the place had finished the first phase of construction. A lot of migrants came to fill the roles. Some people moved from other parts of the country, but you may remember at the time there was a lot of suspicion around Chinese investment.
Things were fine for a while. Most of the new faces around the place were single men or husbands and fathers securing stable employment before bringing their families over. Until I was 12 things were pretty steady at school. That was when the factories started opening and the kids from all over began attending the school.
We got new facilities and buildings to support the growing population. Um... well maybe... sorry I think I'm going off again.
That's alright, we'll edit this all down. Why don't you summarise a bit. We do have other questions I assure you.
Oh yeh. Sorry. Um... well I ended up getting bullied a few years later. I think I was 15 or 16. There were some Chinese students who recently moved in. Their parents were all executives managing various parts of the operation. They learnt pretty early on into the academic year that I was one of the few local children and, worse for me, that I didn't live with my parents.
It was the usual, but eventually they decided on a name for me. Egg. Apparently the word for egg in Chinese is the same as my name. The jokes then revolved around eggs. They threw them at me or at my feet, clothes, bag. The joke amongst the other kids was 'when is Dan going to crack'.
And... did no one do anything? The teachers?
Well its the usual story. Local politics, power, what not. They got away with it. Only once when I was 17 did I break down to my grandparents about it all. We were doing our future planning and the past few years were so degrading I kind of lost track... no touch? with what that could look like. A future I mean. What my dreams were.
I guess that means my grandparents were my inspiration? They encouraged me to turn this torment. This torture into my light. I started looking into what the local company does. I discovered the world of genetic modification and decided that's what I'd do. I'd one up them all and become so invaluable to the company before finding a way to oust them all.
I did study bio-medical-engineering and did end up joining the company, but a few years into my career the company collapsed. That's when I chose to continue my work and founded this company, revolutionising eggs.
A very roundabout story isn't it?
I guess. It started as revenge and ended up becoming something completely different.
What happened to your bullies. Did you ever find out?
Oh yeh. The town had some money left and about a decade after the company collapsed the town decided as one last hurrah to invite all the old residents and alumni back to party, catch up, and say goodbye. All expenses paid.
That's generous.
Not really. The entire industry around the town had been stripped and demolished. It was going to disappear and instead of giving all the money they'd saved up to the government they burned it all. The town was always stigmatised and neglected so its not surprising to me this happened.
And? What happened to those people?
They were all working labour jobs back home in China. They were all basically living off their parents. The ones who tried getting a degree did it too late and lost all their funding when the company collapsed. So in that way I guess I won.
Right. Well moving on, I hear food wasn't the initial product you were developing?
Yes! We started and got the funding we needed by looking into human eggs. The embryo. We were looking at the artificial creation of one, what that looked like and meant. We had a lot of research and tech from the animals and plants so we thought humans were a natural next step.
And did it ever lead anywhere?
Kind of? Not what we set out to do of course. We never did produce a human embryo, but the funding allowed us to study so many types of 'eggs'. Lots of DNA samples, lots of different RnD for both analysis and synthesis of bio material. At one point an experiment was green lit to try having one species' DNA 'grow' from another species' 'egg'.
Ah. And that was the path the company ended up on?
That's right. The experiment was weirdly semi-successful. We produced the first hybrid egg and as a joke at one social they boiled one of them. The taste was very unique and led to many other side experiments to produce the best tasting egg!
Amazing. How do you make the eggs? Is it some kind of artificial insemination of a chicken or other bird?
No no. haha, we had developed artificial egg synthesis machines by this time. It was all about how we modified the protein and yolk as well as the shell's composition. The cost was also starting to get cheaper, the machines more compact and efficient.
So you currently do chicken eggs and these hybrid ones?
At the moment our product line is of replicating various chicken eggs. The normal chicken egg you can mass buy at the supermarket is only really used by standards organisations like the government or other regulators. That's why its so expensive, it just doesn't make sense for a normal person to buy our 'normal' egg over one from the supermarket.
What kinds of chicken eggs do you sell then? That I can get from a store?
For you? Some of the more difficult ones. While not a chicken our Ostrich and Emu eggs are quite popular. Some endangered birds too are bought by high end restaurants or bars wanting something quirky to put on their nibbles menu. My personal favourite is the Pink Praxel egg. The pink is artificially designed by us and Praxel derives its taste from what we imagine a dinosaur's might taste like.
Dinosaurs. That's a bit hard to imagine.
We used as much of the research that's out there to approximate it. There's something similar to a lizard's egg, but also hints of bird too. Its very hard to describe, something you'd have to ask our tasters about.
Tasters?
Yeh. Like a wine sommelier but for eggs. Very difficult to find good ones. They're paid very well.
Your other non bird eggs. I hear its quite a limited range.
Yes. After that whole human meat thing a decade ago those new laws impacted us quite a bit. Thankfully we hadn't quite scaled up production and the lines we did have running were either completely legal or not specialised yet. We do stick to what's already available though. Meat wise I mean. Makes regulation easier. Cows, lamb, whale. Whale was a tough one since its mostly unavailable these days, but thankfully someone thought of recording lots of DNA samples before the industry completely crashed so we barely get by regulators on that one.
Mhmm. That's great. Well that's business, tell us about the food side of this all! You are Catering Director.
Oh of course. Well despite being a scientist, I find a lot of joy in the culinary world. Its one of those spaces I see science and art colliding with beautiful results. Tasty might be better in this context haha.
Our flagship stores are open almost 24/7. Serving the full range of egg styles all day. You can have scrambled for dinner and scotch egg style dishes for breakfast. Vegetarian blue egg steaks for lunch and quail sized goose eggs as snacks on the go.
Do you think you'd ever earn a michelin?
Michelin star? oh no. At least not me and not the flagships. They serve the everyday people, familiar and comforting dishes with a twist. The twist being the egg you know.
I did catch that thank you.
But our branches are a different story. They are almost completely independent. Also unlike our flagships they can you use other main ingredients other than egg. One day we might get lucky and hire a genius chef to lead a branch. That would be great to see.
And if you ever won one?
Me? I don't know if I'd be more happy or amused! Imagine. A restaurant that only serves egg wins Michelin! What a laugh that'd be. And simple egg dishes too, no fancy techniques, just at home everyday skills.
I see. Well I think that brings us to the end of the interview. Is there anything you think you want to add? I know we have some memos and ad reads from your company, but besides all that fluff?
Hm... I think I'd like to add something inspirational. You know, to talk to the younger mes out there. But I don't think I have anything really and I don't think I would be the one to inspire... Maybe then to the parents and grandparents, guardians and role models. Help the young person in your life become something. Especially if to them their world is collapsing, be that voice to turn it around, to inspire them or at the very least give them a place to stand and build off of.
Truly words to remember.
I hope not. Was that sarcasm?
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