There's A Fetus In My Palate

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Aside from Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian and Filipino, maybe the most disgusting food that a foreigner may consider in their list is the balut. According to Tim Cameron of Cracked.com, he listed balut as his top "Most Terrifying Foods in the World". Even the well-known chef and foodie Andrew Zimmern has a hard time in swallowing this considered bizarre food. So what is balut all about?

Balut/balot is a fertilized duck embryo that's boiled alive and eaten in the shell. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors in the regions where they are available. It is commonly sold as streetfood in the Philippines. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(egg)

Here in the Philippines, almost all Filipinos have tasted balut except for those people who are choosy with their food. This food is mostly eaten with salt or seasoned vinegar. This is to neutralized the flavor. Balut is mostly accompanied by a broth and believe to be the albumen. This can be sipped prior to the whole part. Baluts are mostly being sold by street vendors during at night

Aside from eating the egg in a shell, balut is also wrapped with cornstarch and they deep fried. In some restaurants, they serve balut in different ways. They have adobong balut, balut soup, balut tempura and sizzling balut.

According to some historians, balut is not native to the Filipinos. They believe that it was originated in China and being brought by the traders and immigrants during the pre-colonization era. Pateros in Metro Manila is well-knowned as the balut capital of the Philippines

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