Balut the Video. Rated SG (Sorta Gross).

Balut the Video: A story about a guy who walks into a restaurant and says to the waiter, "Feed us duck."

The waiter brings him duck fetus.

Badoom! These are the jokes, folks. These are the jokes. I'm here all week.

(Video: Steven Liu)



eat Balut (duck fetus) on Vimeo

Comments

Juliet said…
You know, my sister wants to lose some weight. I'm thinking I should link her to this. That ought to do the trick. Heck, I'm skinny, and I'll probably lose a couple pounds now.
Anonymous said…
Amazing - this should be subtitled - "Defeating the Gag Reflex!" It's better than those driver-ed stuff I had to sit through!
Eddie Lin said…
dalian,

forget atkins. ditch south beach. the balut diet will burn those pounds off without any effort. you'll look like lindsay lohan or nicole ritchie in no time. all without the heroin chic side effects.

kirk,

nothing is better than 'red asphalt'. nothing!
Anonymous said…
Erm, as a Filipino I was practically raised on balut - it washes down well with beer and is a hearty, filling snack after all-nighters. But I've been living abroad for close on nine years now and seem to have lost my taste for this. A bit sad actually.
Eddie Lin said…
Lou,

I probably would love balut if I grew up with it. There's plenty of stuff that I eat that make people wonder "how on earth do you put that in your mouth?" To that I say, "Easy. Open wide and say, 'Ahhh!'"
e d b m said…
how can anyone forget that great video Red Asphalt. wonder if i can get that on netflix.
Eddie Lin said…
Dylan,

I want somebody to do a sequel to 'Red Asphalt'. Maybe call it 'Balut Asphalt'. Maybe not.
Anonymous said…
Hahaha - I checked and Red Asphalt is not on Netflix - but they have it for free here:

http://www.webtrafficschool.com/wts/free/teaching/free_teach_movie.asp

Unbelievable!
Anonymous said…
Yummy! I will never be able to hear Music Box Dancer again without seeing images of balut dancing in my head.
Anonymous said…
Like you, I like to try new things. Even if they may be a bit strange. Actually, the stranger, the better. Unfortunately I do not have many friends who are as daring as I.
I have been wanting to try that stuff for ages. I've seen it in the markets but didnt think it would be the same. Panorama City is only 20 mins east of me, I think I may hit it up and drag some unsuspecting friends (maybe even my vegetarian girlfriend!) mwahaha!

BTW, Typhoon (a restaurant in the Santa Monica airport) serves insects. Another genre of food I want to try. CitySearch.com has a brief review. Check it out. I plan to one day.
Eddie Lin said…
Shawn,

I've had three vegetarian girlfriends. And they knew of my exotic eating habits before we started to date. What makes veg girls date boys like us? Are we the ultimate bad boys for veg girls? Odd couples.

I've been to Typhoon already last Halloween and had three kinds of bugs not including the cricket martini. It was really cool. Anyway, check out my review.
Svelte Rogue said…
no wonder you're so grossed out, you're eating an egg that's beyond balut proportions already. i don't eat it that old.

you are so missing out, dude. you look really pathetic eating it, too. the best part isn't the chick itself but the yellow part.
Eddie Lin said…
Svelte,

Thanks, now you see why I was a little repulsed. Tell me where to get one that's properly aged and I'll check it out.

Btw, I always look pathetic eating. Watch the "live tentacles" video.
Svelte Rogue said…
hey eddie, thanks for taking the pathetic comment in stride. my brother in law used to chastise me for being pathetic, too, while eating dinuguan 'pig's blood stew' or for screwing up my face while watching insects and rodents get cooked on national geographic shows. he told me that i let my imagination get in the way.

what i do is, when i eat the chick part, is to shower it with salt (iodised is much better) and then put it all in my mouth, and then savour. you have got to NOT let the images of a live chick get in the way of the pleasure. it took me a while to get this down pat, but recently, after your podcast and listening to the radio interview, i ate one with my husband and we really wondered why people would not find this dem piece of egg yummeh. i keep the yellow for last. sometimes the white part is edible for me, but the last one i had wasn't so i just left it.

back in manila, i didn't worry about supplies, as it were. i would drive around until i saw the familiar kerosene lamp of the vendors peeping from the basket and get it for only 9 pesos tops (it's around $1: Ps. 55 now), so too cheap to be true. here in europe, where everything is super duper regulated, my balut comes all the way from the netherlands, but it is a big egg and when you heat it properly in a pan of water and then let cool for a couple of minutes (tops, no more), it's good enough to go.
Anonymous said…
I went to Manila 2 summers ago, and I tried Balut. Once you get over the sight of it (and your gag reflex), it's really good.
Eddie Lin said…
andi,

agreed. once you get over the gross out factor of balut, it's not bad. i actually sorta liked it...sorta.
Anonymous said…
You got to believe the Filipinos' comments above, I have to agree with 'svelte rouge' - the balut (my goodness, where did you get that thing??) you were eating was way past beyond it's time! I came from Pateros, a town in Manila, famous for the balut. At the right stage, the duck fetus, as you say it, is wrapped in a delicate white sac, the Tagalog term for it is 'balut sa puti' and it can't even be seen. You just pop in into your mouth like a meatball! But the truth is, I only eat the yellow part which is, for me, the best part of the balut, I give the duckling part to someone else to eat. We're proud of the balut, it's a very authentic delicacy.
Anonymous said…
hey eddie, had pleasure of learning about your site while listening to pacific drift. great site.

as for balut, i had my encounter with it 4 years ago while visiting kodiak, ak. it was served by this filipino family i was staying with. and looking at your video, i think your chosen eggs were a little over ripe. both eggs i had actually had some sort of soup in it, which was very very delicious. as for the chick, not too feathery, just nicely crunchy. but yeah, the yolk looked nasty...with all them bulging purple and green blood vessels...yet w/ a little sprinkle of NaCl, everything was good.

but i doubt i would ever pay to eat it.
Eddie Lin said…
l.m.,

i had the kind of balut i was served. you had the version you ate. unless we had the same kind than there really is no way to properly compare our experiences.


dsaeykim,

thanks for listening on the radio and thanks for your thoughtful comment.
Anonymous said…
I lived in the Philippines for a year and used to eat Balut on occasion somehow thinking I'd learn to like it. Alas, I didn't, but it's tolerable.

It's also supposed to be quite healthy and the locals said it had some sort of aphrodesiatic (sp?) properties - or at least it enhanced a males ability to do the wild thing.
Eddie Lin said…
mike s,

balut is viagra in a shell. ;-)
Anonymous said…
I just returned from the Philippines yesterday. It was my third trip this past year. Each time we stopped to eat balut with the new people accompanying us. It was fun to watch each person's face as they experienced it for the first time. On this trip,an ex-marine that traveled with us gave the embryo a wild ride with his projectile vomiting.
Anonymous said…
I'm Laos and grew up watching my parents eat balut. I have always been scared to try it. Well I still haven't try the "duckling". I just scoop that up and give it to my dad. I only eat the yellow part with is very good. But then again mom makes this vinegar chili sauce. So I guess I'm enjoying the sauce and not the actually balut? LOL
Bernice said…
Hello! Let me do a self intro: I'm a 15 year old girl from sunny Singapore, where people my age don't touch anything other than processed food. I'm quite the polar opposite though. My favs range from chicken feet to devouring fish heads. Yes, i only eat the head and nothing else. So you balut actually look quite interesting. I'm begging my parents to bring me to the phillipines for vacation just for a little egg!