DARE TO EAT BALUT?

Balut is a popular Filipino street snack and is essentially a duck egg with a fetus inside, typically between sixteen to twenty days in gestation. In the Philippines balut is so very popular. There are balut vendors who ride on bicycles that have a basin full of fetal treats and bark their wares in a sing-song chant of “baluuuut, baluuuut!”

I did not grow up eating balut. My first exposure to balut was when I’m in college when one of my board mates let me sample one of these eccentric eggs. She bought two balut eggs – one was for me. She explained to me that balut is a boiled duck’s egg with a fetus inside. She continued on to illustrate that when I chew on the egg I may come across feathers, a beak, bones and other bonus treats that aren’t included in your standard hard-boiled egg. Intellectually, I understood what she was telling me. Realistically, I could not have been more unprepared. But before I was to breach the balut’s shell, my friend instructed me on the basics of eating balut. First, I had to tap the pointy tip of the egg’s shell and make an opening large enough only for the broth to trickle into my mouth. Next, I needed to remove the shell and season the egg with salt and vinegar. Lastly, I had to decide whether to wolf down the balut in just two bites or less, so as not to visually encounter the fetus, or to nibble on the egg and eat it section by section, being extra cozy with the partially formed duck. She told me also to ate the balut in a dark place so that can’t see what inside…hmmm, I’m curious what it taste! So I went ahead and tapped the tip of the egg, created a tiny hole and took a quick swig of the soup. It was nice. Light and subtly sweet. The next thing that happened is a lot like what happens when you crank the handle of a jack in the box. You know something is going to pop out and you know it is going to startle you, but just because something is predictable doesn’t make it less shocking. It came time to open the balut. I peeled off a sizeable swath of shell. Put a little salt and vinegar to taste. Suddenly and without any warning, I sip the fluids, removed the remaining shell patch by patch until the balut was completely exposed and I ate it! Hmmm, taste not bad! After that, I have fun of eating it! It’s really delicious.

Now, I missed the taste of it. It’s been a year that I never eat it. I told my husband about that. He said "I'm weird", how can I dare to eat dead duck inside the egg? I don't care what he say, for me, its taste good! How I wish, I can go back in Philippines and experience again the taste of balut! When it happen? I don’t know…only God knows.