Girls scramble to go to work on an egg

Forget girl power - most girls expect to do the cooking when they grow up, according to a survey published today.

More than 90 per cent of girls aged 7 to 14 said they would be willing to do the cooking in their households.

Boys say that would be fine by them - 80 per cent said they had no intention of slaving over a stove or a microwave when they were adults.

Six out of 10 boys said they did not know how to boil and egg, while more than half admitted they had never followed a recipe. But seven out of 10 girls had begun practising for domestic duties later in life by learning to cook with a recipe book, and more than half said they knew how to boil an egg.

Unsurprisingly, both boys and girls said that women make better chefs, according to the survey, carried out by the British Egg Information Service to launch November as Crack an Egg Month.

The month-long promotion is being run to highlight the convenience and nutritional benefits of eggs and to promote the Lion symbol, which is used to mark eggs produced under higher standards of hygiene and welfare than those required by law.