At a Toastmasters meeting tonight, a club member from the Philippines gave a speech on balut, which has been featured as a Fear Factor eating challenge as well as the number one exotic food on a Food Channel top ten program.
It was very educational, his speech about how duckling eggs are prepared until just a couple of days before they hatch. And then eaten, duckling and all.
Kindly, he brought several balut eggs with him, in case anyone wanted to try one.
At the bar after the meeting, having thought about this for quite a bit, I decided I would probably never have another chance to try something this strange without having to worry about the implications of eating (or not eating) it.
So, I tried one (along with two other brave and foolish souls) and made it partway through. It wasn't bad, but reminded me a little too much of liver.
Oh, forgot to mention: apparently, one of the side effects of eating balut is something like a 24-hour viagra kick
We'll see if it happens.
He also brought some 100-year-old egg, which is actually only about 20 days old. It sits in a pile of mud out in the yard, mixed with salt and hydrogen peroxide, curing naturally until it's ready to eat. Not cooked, cured. It was a lovely shade of blue and black, and tasted a whole lot like egg (which it is, of course). That was much easier to eat.
I'm now sitting down in the basement, wondering if I dare go to sleep tonight in case either one decides to disagree with me in the wee hours of the morning...
I know we had a thread on disgusting foods a while back, and I'm sure these were on there (or should have been). Still, I thought I'd share while the experience (and the taste) are fresh in my mind.
Enjoy. Anyone hungry?