My 1st Balut

Sep 19, 2010 by Jawz

As I have mentioned in my 'Manileños in Davao City!' blog post, I had the chance to try balut. I had been waiting for a good time to try it someday, but I wasn't sure when because usually balut is sold late at night, and I didn't know where I should eat it. I also wanted some of my friends to witness me eating it.

When Migs, my online friend from Manila, told me he'd come visit Davao City in September, I planned for that to be the perfect time to try it. Ever since 2008, he had teased me about trying it someday whenever I come to the Philippines. Since I'm here now, and since he was coming, I felt that it'd be a perfect time and a treat for him to be a witness.

Originally, Migs was wanting me and his friend Mitzi to go head-to-head. We were going to have an American VS Filipina "Balut Challenge". This was because she had not had balut ever since she was young. Unfortunately, on September the 12th, the first night Migs & friends were in Davao City, she was too full from eating a large supper to be able to eat the balut. So, we moved the date to the second day; September the 13th. Sadly, again, she was too full from eating supper. However, we didn't skip the balut on that night, since that was the last night they'd be in Davao City. Instead, we went ahead with the plans, but excluding Mitzi.

Me and Migs stayed in the hotel room until around 10:00PM (or later), to wait for the balut vendors to come out. They always roam the streets in the late evening times, even at midnight. The balut vendors ride bikes, carrying a bucket, and they squeak their horns to let you know they're around. So, when the time came, me and Migs got up and walked outside. We walked down the road for about 10 minutes, and finally a vendor showed up. The balut vendor pulled a balut out of the bucket, and I gave him 15 pesos (the amount it had cost). He also handed me a small bag of salt.

Me holding my balut, beside the balut vendor

When me and Migs got back to the hotel, he beckoned his friends to come around too watch. I set a bottle of apple juice down that I had bought from the Mercury Drugstore, just in case I needed something to drink. Me and Migs' camera both started to roll as I began the process of eating the balut. In the first part, I sipped the juice from the egg. It had tasted like boiled egg. I then peeled it open and ate the yoke, with a bit of salt on it. Again, it tasted like a normal boiled egg, nothing odd. When I pulled out the baby duck, I couldn't identify it's body yet until I found it's head.

When I ate the baby duck, I could feel either it's bones or feet in my mouth. I think it had tiny feathers on it too. Chewing it up wasn't much of a problem. It was very soft, and sort of slimy. The taste wasn't at all disgusting. I cannot really remember the flavor, but again it resembled boiled eggs.

Here is the video of me eating the balut, from MY camera

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Here is the video of me eating balut, from MIGS' camera. He did a cool video edit to his.