I’ve been obsessed with balut ever since I had dinner with Cindy a few months back. It started off innocently enough. I was telling Cindy that I had a real phobia about cracking open eggs; I’m convinced that one of these days I’ll whack one open and find a partially developed chicken inside. This little scenario runs through my head every single time I crack open an egg. After relating my phobia, Cindy went beyond the bounds of decency and proceeded to tell me about balut.
At first I was convinced that she was misinformed. People don’t eat fertilized duck eggs ON PURPOSE. Duck eggs that contain bones, beak, eyes and feathers. Her story was screaming ‘Urban Myth’. But I soon realized that it was true; Balut is considered a huge delicacy in some parts of the world. In the following days I read as much as I could about balut. I found it fascinating in a grotesque and horrifying way—given my phobia. I even emailed The Sneeze to try and get Steve to eat it.
Low and behold, Eddie was the one who pulled through. I was thrilled when I saw his latest food foray:
http://deependdining.blogspot.com/2005/09/balut-egg-of-darkness-pinoy-pinay.html
(a.k.a. Eddie eats balut. And lives to tell about it.)
There are just some things that I really don’t feel the need to try. Even once. Nope, not even a little bit.
~ B
I’ve also been fascinated by balut ever since I saw it on a travel documentary about the Phillippines. This of course means I’m going to have to try it like every other exotic thing out there. Now where in Seattle can you get balut?
Thanks for the link…what a great post!
Hey, Meg,
Thanks for blogging me! Funny that you did because last night I just did the radio interview with your friend’s bro Ben Adair (Pacific Drift on KPCC 89.3fm in Los Angeles). Are you curious to find out if Ben ate balut or not??? Well you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out…or you can just ask Ben’s brother. teehee.
Welcome back!
Bill, I haven’t heard of balut in Seattle, but if I find any, I’ll let you know!
Thanks Moira!
Hi Eddie,
Yes, I heard about the interview from John. I also heard that Ben tried it!! I’m shocked. I thought you were the only crazy one. Ha ha.
Can’t wait to listen to the podcast!
Thanks Kevin,
Glad to be back!
so, have you finally tried eating balut?
some tips :) I don’t know how they make them and how long the eggs actually get to clients but here in the Philippines, we usually ask for one-day olds… where the chick is just this small ball of whatever… Filipinos seldom eat chicks that already look like chicks :)
Also, if you’re not brave enough, Just partake of the broth and the yellow part. The white part is eaten too, but it’s not as tender as the yellow part. And the yellow part tastes better with some salt and some spicy vinegar.
A lot of Filipinos also don’t eat the chick, you know.
And we also have what we call PENOY, basically a boiled duck egg that’s also delicious.
Delish, Thanks for the tips! That’s good to know that there are varying degrees of eating balut. The penoy sounds great.