* Vegetarians, look away. *
Actually, if you’re a meat-eater, this may very well turn you into a vegetarian.
It’s my younger brother’s birthday today, and I joked about him eating balut, which is common street vendor food in Asia, particularly in the Philippines. I post a lot of food pictures here, but you will NEVER catch me eating this, although I’m not above taking a photo of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut
Even when I was a kid, there were some foods my parents cooked that I wouldn’t touch and no one else had qualms about eating. I wasn’t a big fan of boiled intestines, tongue, or goat. (Although, the Caribbean style of goat I don’t mind, because they cook it longer.)
If you have a somewhat fragile constitution but are interested in seeing what balut is, here is a very tame 45-second YouTube clip of an American (author and chef) trying it in Vietnam, where it is also popular street food.
For those stomachs of the hardier variety, here is the 3-minute Filipino demonstration, which is much more… thorough, shall we say:
Oh yeah, Happy Birthday Alvin, I hope they’re not feeding you balut!
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
this makes me wish i could somehow be MORE vegetarian. seuss is pushing for veganism, but i haven’t been totally ready for that yet. perhaps if i look at a few more balut pictures…
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Dear jeebus! I did not think I could hate eggs more. Well done, you. I will never eat an egg AGAIN.
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Oh, gross.
I heart Anthony Bourdain, though.
Thursday, 24 April 2008
I should probably clarify that my parents never tried to feed this to us! When we were in the Philippines, my relatives ate it and I just watched them with a morbid fascination.
There’s plenty of good Filipino food, but I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone with less than a cast-iron constitution.
Friday, 25 April 2008
Hey I’ve had balut, well technically I never could stomach the animal just the squishy part around it.
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Bleh. I’m a veggie. Looks like heartburn city to me. Pass the blood pressure and cholesterol lowering meds. And some dark chocolate and beer to keep the HDL levels bumped up a notch. Yeesh.