My own personal fear factor
Balut was made famous all around the world by the TV program "Fear Factor". Contestants were challenged to eat a bowl of balut. But "what is balut?" I hear some of you asking. Balut is a delicacy here in the Philippines which an egg with a semi-formed chick inside. To eat it you follow this procedure:
1. You crack the top of the egg
2. Peel part of the egg shell off
3. Drink the juice (embrionic fluid) inside
4. Peel the rest of the egg which contains the egg yolk (just out of interest, how are we supposed to spell it - yolk or yoke?) and a partially formed chick (the more formed the chick is the more of a delicacy it is considered to be)
5. You close your eyes, count to 3 and eat the egg whole
You must remember that it is not for chewing or crunching. The best way to do it is forget that there is a chick and just go "over the teeth and past the gums, look out tummy here it comes".
That is what I tried to do unsuccessfully. You see I knew what I was eating. I could see the chick with its bones and feathers already forming. I tried the mind over matter thing but as soon as the chick tickled my throat the rest of the egg contents came up. I don't know how it happened, but in one foul swoop (sorry for the pun) I managed to swallow the chick but bring up the egg yolk. This was at 1am in the morning mind you. I had just attended a Catholic wake complete with the open casket, iconic figurines and beautiful flowers. On the way home the family thought it would be a good idea to initiate me into filipino culture by getting me to try balut. They thought it was absolutely hilarious. Especially when I couldn't keep it down. They tried to get me to try again, but I am of the firm belief that you only try something once when it comes to particularly gross foods. The filipino's love it and say that it is very good for you. I, on the other hand, find it very difficult to eat a semi-formed chick no matter how nutritious it is.
1. You crack the top of the egg2. Peel part of the egg shell off
3. Drink the juice (embrionic fluid) inside
4. Peel the rest of the egg which contains the egg yolk (just out of interest, how are we supposed to spell it - yolk or yoke?) and a partially formed chick (the more formed the chick is the more of a delicacy it is considered to be)
5. You close your eyes, count to 3 and eat the egg whole
You must remember that it is not for chewing or crunching. The best way to do it is forget that there is a chick and just go "over the teeth and past the gums, look out tummy here it comes".
That is what I tried to do unsuccessfully. You see I knew what I was eating. I could see the chick with its bones and feathers already forming. I tried the mind over matter thing but as soon as the chick tickled my throat the rest of the egg contents came up. I don't know how it happened, but in one foul swoop (sorry for the pun) I managed to swallow the chick but bring up the egg yolk. This was at 1am in the morning mind you. I had just attended a Catholic wake complete with the open casket, iconic figurines and beautiful flowers. On the way home the family thought it would be a good idea to initiate me into filipino culture by getting me to try balut. They thought it was absolutely hilarious. Especially when I couldn't keep it down. They tried to get me to try again, but I am of the firm belief that you only try something once when it comes to particularly gross foods. The filipino's love it and say that it is very good for you. I, on the other hand, find it very difficult to eat a semi-formed chick no matter how nutritious it is.
posted by Michael Coman at 1:51 pm
1 Comments:
DDDDDDDisgusting!
Post a Comment
<< Home