Fear Factor - Eating Balut in Manila

I used to watch contestants in Fear Factor challenging them to eat weird food. I used to wonder if I will ever do that. Recently, I dared myself to eat one of Philippines' delicacy - the balut.

The balut (egg) is a fertilized duck embryo that is eaten in the shell. Considered a hearty snack, baluts are common and I found my balut in Robinsons Mall, a huge mall in Central Manila. My balut wasn't eaten boiled. As a tourist, I chose the fried version, in which the balut was cooked with seasonings such as garlic and sweet chilli. Eating the balut is indeed refreshing. Bigger than an ordinary egg, it contains very little egg white. Eating the balut was like eating young tender meat that has been stuffed into the egg.

As the foetus was yet to be born, bones could not be felt. I ate slowly to savour my balut. That careful act of mine enabled me to ascertain that it was a young duckling awaiting its birth - bits of feather can be seen from inside the egg. As I continue to take small bites to finish the entire balut, I realised that it tasted different from my first mouthful - a little crunchier and less bitter than before - probably due to different segments of the duck.

Indeed - an interesting intriguing experience - all for price of less than S$1 (30 pesos). I guess I need another one now...