Like most ridiculous challenges, this one began with me swearing that I’d never do it…
“I’ll never eat balut!”.
Yet, my resistance just drew more attention to the whole thing with everyone saying I should try it.
“It’s masarap! (yummy)” they said.
When you travel, there’s always some local delicacy that people exclaim you should try. Yet, balut is so extreme that it divides Filipinos. Some swear by its nutritional value as well as its alleged aphrodisiac properties (it gives you “strong knees”). Whereas other locals have never tried it. They simply screw up their nose… “I don’t eat it”.
So, in this instance, the die-hard balut eaters swore I should try it and the ones who don’t eat it did the same, mainly because they wanted to see a foreigner eat it for entertainment. I’m pretty sure that both camps were keen on witnessing the shock value of an Australian eating something very culturally different and somewhat disturbing.
I decided to embrace the opportunity and recorded a ‘balut commitment video’ where I promised if the video got 1000 likes/shares/Road Less Travelled Facebook page likes… I’d do it. Unfortunately for me, it did.
For those who may not be acquainted with balut, it’s a fertilised duck egg that’s boiled and eaten with the duck fetus inside. There are differently aged baluts from about 14 – 22 days and the older the egg, the bigger the duck. It’s popular throughout South East Asia, particularly in the Philippines where vendors pedal small bikes with styrofoam boxes full of the delicacy as they shout “balot, balot“
So, without further adieu, here’s the Road Less Travelled Balut Challenge Episode.
Can you stomach it?