Are you ready? Do you have enough eggs on hand?

This is National Deviled Egg Day and only the perfectly shaped whites piled high with a savory yolk filling will do.

Although in the United States there are about 175 days in the year related to the awareness of food or drink, ranging from bananas to vichyssoise, this one was new to me. Deviled eggs in early November? In this part of the country a summer picnic menu is not complete without them.

It’s challenging enough to keep up with food trends, let alone the days set aside to acknowledge specific foods. Remember when we were warned to cut back on egg consumption because the yolks were high in fat and cholesterol and many people tried to develop a taste for the whites? To me it’s impossible to truly enjoy scrambled egg whites with morning toast.

Deviled eggs are certainly easy to prepare, but they are not particularly attractive, even when the cook arranges them carefully on a designer platter with colorful garnish.

Adding lobster or caviar to the yolk mix boosts the price, but otherwise they are a low-cost protein.

It is also fun to find a shrimp, but the common practice is to whip up the cooked yolks with mayonnaise, a smidgen of dry mustard, salt, and pepper. The filled eggs are often garnished with paprika, or a sprig of parsley or cilantro.

Much as we would like to boast that deviled eggs are an all-American dish, culinary historians have traced recipes for them way back to ancient Rome, where they were served as a first course. In Europe they are called stuffed eggs and in some church circles the name angel eggs is preferred to associating the word devil at the church supper.

The treatment of the “stuffed” eggs in Sweden is memorable and bears copying. My Swedish friends explained the eggs served were traditional for the Easter smorgasbord though my visit was in October. The cooked yolks were beaten fluffy with caviar and sour cream and each filled egg was topped with a sprig of fresh dill, and an anchovy or pickled herring.

To make hard-boiled eggs, place the eggs in a single layer in cooking pan and cover with water. Heat to boiling; then remove from heat and cover the pan. Let eggs stand in the hot water; for large eggs the timing is 12 minutes and for medium eggs, 9 minutes. Drain and cool in cold running water or in ice water before removing the shells.

In the world of food there are always trends coming in or going out. Some friends are following a gluten free diet because their doctors prescribe it, but there are many who just enjoy jumping on a new trend because they are curious.

A friend swears she is sleeping better and has more ambition since she abandoned bread and all things with wheat. Try it, and you won’t be as tired, she suggested.

Next to potatoes, bread is my favorite food. Nevertheless, to please my friend and because I spend many restless nights, I bought a loaf of gluten-free bread. The slices were thick and there weren’t as many as there are in the usual loaf. Even worse was the $5 price. I decided I am not that tired.

Several years ago there was the oat bran craze. Foods baked with oat bran were heavy and dry, but we bought quantities of the bran because it was what everyone was doing. Gradually the trend faded away. Some crazes are more short-lived than others.

Last year my 90-year-old cousin asked if I would take her to the supermarket to buy coconut oil and cherry juice. She convinced me to buy some too for my health. I passed on the cherry juice, but the coconut oil wasn’t too hard a sell because I immediately associated it with Hawaii. But after a few weeks trying to hide the recommended daily dosage of a teaspoon of the oil in honey or peanut butter, I pushed the jar to the back of the cupboard.

It’s anybody’s guess what the next dietary trend will be. In the meantime, here’s to you with caviar-topped deviled egg. Why not go first class?

Mary Alice Powell is a retired Blade food editor.

Contact her at: mpowell@theblade.com

First Published November 2, 2014, 4:00 a.m.