Filipino Fear Factor

anonymouscuban

As some of you know, I just got back from a month long trip to the Philippines and Thailand. I have a lot of images to go through, but thought I share this set of my first night in the Philippines. We went over to my wife's cousins home for a small party. I wasn't there but half an hour when my father-in-law challenged me to eat balut.

Here is my father-in-law holding balut. It's a fertilized hardboiled duck egg. Yes... fertilized! Meaning it contains a fully developed duck embryo with little claws, beak and even feathers.



I eagerly crack open the shell thinking it has to look a lot worse than it tastes:



I take a little sip of the juice that surrounds the egg and I find that it actually doesn't taste as bad as I thought:



So I go in for the kill:



Oh oh... that wasn't such a good idea:



Definitely not a good idea at all... very close to puking here:



I survived without puking:



And just to show these Filipinos what Americans are made of, I went for seconds:

marikris

HA!

I like the juice just fine and the yellow, but otherwise I could never eat the whole thing. And I grew up in the Philippines and used to balut! Mad props to you for reprezentin'

Seneca

OMGosh....that is just amazing.

Qarik

Dude

Wachel

You are a better man than me...or just crazier...whichever!

reyvee61

Ha ha....that's nothing for the people of my culture...we eat things that other folks throw away....

That being said, you are a brave man my friend going for seconds!
Bravo!

VayCayMom

Dude ! thanks for sharing that, kudos! But I could hardly look at it!

NeilL

Don't let the balut distract you... Filipinos (the men at least) are the greatest mechanics on earth, and they all sing with a fine very smooth tenor. Kings of karaoke! Yes, motors and sentimental love ballads are the specialties of PI!

Neil

anonymouscuban

It was pretty gross. It tastes a little like chicken. Actually, it's rather bland. The gross part is the crunch because you know that it's the bones, beak and legs that your chewing.

Dog is or used to be eaten in the Philippines. I was on a quest to eat dog, or "Askal" as they call it. It's outlawed so no public eateries sell it. You can only find it in homes and none of my wife's family eats it. One of her uncles tried to find some for me but it never happened. He promised he have some for me next trip.

reyvee61

I remember going down south to Mexico where all kinds of critters make it into tamales but on one occasion there was a person there who made them out of cat meat.
I was young but I tried it anyway ........ my sisters wanted nothing to do with it....

Meh!

WOW..

Thank you for sharing!

MileHighAko

I'm from Colorado, but lived south of Manila (San Pablo City, Lucena, Batangas, Lopez, etc.) for a few years when I was younger. We'd eat Balut just about every night. Like you, wasn't sure I'd survive the first time. After that, it was the highlight of my day.

Nice pictures. Love the PP on the first one.

Hackbone

One crazy dude!!

AtlPikMan

Thanks for showing them what we are made of, It would have been an EPIC FAILURE if i was there.

zoomer

And documented it!
I could not eat that, not after having looked at it, big yuck.

lizzard_nyc

Though I've eaten tongue, tripe and morcilla, I think I draw the line at mini beaks and claws--I think. no no, it's not the beak that bothers me, it's the raw part, the raw oozing part:)

Glad you didn't lose face or your lunch.
Though the series would have been a whole lot funnier if you had tossed your cookies... er duckies.

Agnieszka

omg! I almost threw up looking at the first photo ) .... Uhm ... you go AnonymousCuban!

schmoo

Qarik wrote: »

Dude

This.