Eggs

A line cook at the Waffle House in East Point, Georgia.

It’s our favorite way to greet the day: a farm-fresh egg fried in olive oil until the white is crisp around the edges and the yolk is barely firm. A little coarse sea salt, a grind of black pepper, a thick slice of crusty bread, and the morning is off to a blissful start. Other times, we ask more of this elemental ingredient, whether poached and covered in hollandaise, smothered with a bright tomato salsa, or baked into a frittata topped with ricotta. So indispensable is the egg to our well-being that calling it the perfect food almost seems like an understatement.