“the egg of ultimate darkness”

balut.jpg

Although (as mentioned before) it’s firmly planted in the unique category of foods I actually won’t try even once, the Southeast Asian delicacy balut fascinates me. Traditionally Balut is a hard-boiled duck egg with a fertilized and mostly-developed embryo. I first witnessed it when the parents of a Filipina girl I was dating told me it was customary for anyone wanting to marry into a Filipino family to consume one. When they were described to me as “crunchy hard-boiled eggs,” and that “sometimes there are some feathers,” I happily refused.

For those of you also intrigued by balut–and I know that’s some of you as I’ve gotten emails wondering where to pick them up locally–I stumbled across a blog post by some St. Louis Atheists that documented their escapade with some of the better balut photos I’ve seen–by better I mean most disgusting.

And of course, a tasty excerpt:

Most Americans will tell you that the first time you eat balut, it helps if you don’t think about exactly what you’re eating. Screw that. I knew what I was eating. I stared into it’s little cloudy eyes. I gently pulled open its beak and looked at the little tongue inside. Then, I put it in my mouth and felt what my eyes had already seen.

Roughest Food Ever

I’ll eat just about anything once — I have my limits though, and they are drawn somewhere before the balut eggs of the Philippines.

Not for the faint of heart, I offer no pics here, so brace yourself if you dare, and have a look at the pics on offalgood.com.

but don’t say I didn’t warn you!