Casualty of Capitalism

Exiled into Wilmington, Delaware by virtue of corporate layoffs. (Note: Unless otherwise stated, all photos on this blog are Copyright 2005, Michael Collins, and cannot be used without permission.)

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Location: Wilmington, Delaware, United States

Graduate of University of Maryland School of Law; University of Maryland, College Park (Economics/Political Science).

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Balut: A "Special" Treat

Here is my sister's latest tale of horror from the Philippines...her attempt to eat Balut.

Last night I finally had to face the Balut (duck embryo). Maybe you've seen it on Fear Factor, one of those nasty foods that Americans cannot ever accept are true delicacies in other countries. Ya, the balut is a special "treat" here in the Philippines. The one i got cost P10, regular eggs cost bout P4. The balut is a hard-boiled duck egg, but the catch is that the egg is not cooked until several days later, like sometimes 16 days later. So that gives plenty of time for things to "form" within the egg that make the egg very different from your standard hard-boiled easter egg.

After I finished singing my karaoke song, I was awarded the balut by my friends. Lots of chuckling. They all claimed that every balut that they had eaten was not gross at all, just like a typical hard-boiled egg that was a bit crunchy. So I thought that it could be do-able for me. The first step is crack the top of the egg and suck out the juice (already nasty). Then you peel the shell off the egg and pop the "egg" in your mouth. I tried to keep my eyes closed as I peeled and I happened to catch something dark brown and vein-y in there. So everyone was cheering me on, took the bite with my eyes closed, and couldnt stop laughing with the crap in my mouth cuz it was so disgusting (think it was more mentally disgusting). Then I looked down and saw feathers sticking out of the "egg" and a bone. Everyone started laughing at how disgusting it looked and couldnt beleive how many feathers and bones were in it (they had never seen one like it themselves). So I was done. My friend Julie then offered to dissect the rest of it. Her report: more feathers, a backbone, grossness that should not be consumed by humans.

Sorry i failed you guys and didnt finish the whole thing. Sometimes you realize that it just isnt necessary to torture yourself.

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