Not for vegetarians

Every country has its specialty food that they like to wheel out to test and shock foreigners. In Australia it is Vegemite, in Japan it was natto (mmm fermented soy beans) and here in the Philippines it is Balut.

Balut is basically a boiled duck egg...the only catch is that it is incubated a little longer than your average egg so there is an embryo inside. When you crack open the egg you see the partially formed foetus and depending on how well the incubation was timed you also get beaks and claws- apparently the crunchiness really adds to the taste.

I am yet to take up the challenge of eating Balut but here’s some photos from Friday night when my flat mate Reggie and a few other game (and I would say stupid) guys decided to give it a try. I think it’s important to note that they had all been drinking a lot of tequila!