BnB: Balut n Beer

my balut and beer

It felt something straight out of a fear factor episode.. With a host giving instructions and all eyes (nay, cameras) on me.

I forced myself to not think of the balut before me as I peeled off its shell, tiny pieces a time. I wanted to get it over with, but at the same time, I wanted to take time and experience everything that I was doing.

Ok, back-track a bit. The plan was for me to join my big brother and cousin in one of their drinking sessions, dubbed as INB (Isaw n Beer). As with some of my plans, it didn't push through as conceived. I ended up in Katipunan with my siblings and cousin after a family gathering one Saturday evening, instead.

my beautiful siblings: Rain, Mae, (me), Aimee, Kuys

with my cousin Kuya Jong and Nat

my kuya who was the promotor of all these. pero wait, bakit may peanuts?? i don't remember eating any!

As soon as it finally dawned on me that it was gonna be THE night for my first ever balut experience, I soaked up on beer as quickly as I can. I thought, the better if I were buzzed enough to just eat the damned thing.

When our balut arrived, I had to concentrate on what my Kuys and cousin Kuya Jong were instructing me to do, as almost our entire table were trying to encourage and cheer me all at the same time.

You see, this is really a big thing for me. Balut, one of the favorite streetfood enjoyed in the Philippines, is considered as a weird delicacy in most parts of the world. So weird that a couple of episodes of Fear Factor featured it. According to Wikipedia, balut is a fertilized duck embryo that is boiled and eaten in the shell. According to me, it's a dead chick wrapped in embryo and yolk. Ok fine, not dead. Unborn.

you have to drink the sabaw first, before peeling off the entire shell. sounds weird? tastes great!

Peel. It. Off!

While I was peeling off the shell of my dead chick, I started to notice the color of the balut inside. Someone asked me from across the table, "Can you see the brown parts already? That's it!" I didn't want to see. So I tried my hardest to concentrate on the shells and the salt I was about to eat my balut with.

my balut.. in all its glory!

 I was laughing and whining all at once, trying to stall. But I knew that I was holding on to the naked balut, salt already generously plastered all over it, and my siblings' cameras ready to shoot.

I looked at my cousin from across the table as he devoured his balut whole. No bites, no small pinches, nothing. So ok, my turn. I took a big gulp of my beer, held my breath for a second and shoved the entire balut in my mouth.

Wala ng atrasan.

Why were my eyes still closed??

Good job, Pam!

It actually tasted like one mushy hard boiled egg! No, I didn't taste the chick (or I couldn't distinguish what the chick tasted like), and no, I didn't feel the crunchiness of the chick's beak while I was chewing it (had the chick been old enough to grow its beak before it followed the fate I've chosen for it).

As I finished everything and washed it down with beer, I realized that it wasn't so bad after all!

Though I'm not sure if I could yet understand my countrymen's fascination for it so much here in the Philippines, I know I can still proudly say that I've eaten balut without having to go through Fear Factor. Why, I'm hella Pinoy!

my empty balut shell

balut accomplished!!!

And when someone will ask me how the whole experience was, all I’ll tell ‘em is, “Sisiw lang yan!”

when: July 9, 2011

where: Countryside Place, Katipunan