First Come, First Served

I do some of my best thinking in the shower.

Laugh if you must, but that is a fact. In the shower, you are alone with yourself. You have nothing to do--except think.

So, recently, while in my heavy thinking mode, I revisited an old quandary: which came first, the chicken or the egg?

This is not, strictly speaking, a very good question. Does it matter which came first? Does knowing the answer serve any purpose? Not really. The answer wouldn't reveal a deeper understanding of human history, nor would it give insight into ancient civilizations' dietary habits. Additionally, regardless of which existed first, the other would have came into existence shortly after. Therefore, the better question is:

Which was eaten first--the chicken or the egg? Now here is a question more suitable for wasting time on. By figuring out which was the first to be consumed, we can deduce the order of the following:
--the invention of the "cooking spit"
--the invention of boiled water
--the formation of PETA

A worthy endeavor for any individual seeking a challenge.

As the one to pose the question, I shall now attempt to answer it. Technically, neither the chicken nor the egg need fire to be prepared, the eating of eggs and chickens could have preceded the invention of fire. However, since eating either raw could lead to severe food poisoning and/or death. So, I have deduced that both entered the menu after the invention of fire.

To cook a chicken, all you need is a stick and a fire. Stick the stick through the chicken like a spit, and then roast it. Easy, and delicious. A fairly primitive group of people could do something like that. This might lead one to believe that, given the simplistic nature of chicken cooking, eating chicken came before eating eggs.

But consider also! Boiled water back then was pretty much essential to survival. Who knows what kind of vicious bacteria lived in streams. So, being necessary to staying alive, would it not be inconcievable that boiled water came into being shortly after the method needed to heat it (i.e. fire)? And from there, how difficult would it be to, intentionally or accidently, drop an egg in said boiling water and end up with a boiled egg? Conclusive evidence that the egg was the first to be eaten.

But this leaves a dilemma. Both are equally plausible options.

The question remains: Which came first, the roasted chicken or the boiled egg?

The answer is Chuck Norris.