An underdeveloped duck egg

I have eaten a lot of interesting and strange delicacies throughout my life. Unlike most Americans, I never had any food aversions as a child and grew up eating a variety of different meals and dishes thanks to a culinary-curious mother who liked to experiment in the kitchen.

I come from an ethnic background with my parents being of both Spanish and Filipino descent. Due to this, I think that my cultural heritage played a large part in what was put on the table at my home. My parents always encouraged me to try everything and since I did not have any idea what was considered “yucky” by American standards, I grew up eating things that most of my neighbors probably wouldn’t be able to pronounce.

I remember being in the third grade and my teacher asked every single student in the class what their favorite and least favorite food was. I remember thinking to myself that I loved eating fried squid, but disliked bitter melon. As my classmates answered my teacher, I noticed that my answers vastly differed from everyone else. They all enjoyed meals like pizza or hamburgers and broccoli was the frontrunner for the least liked food. When my teacher called on me, I panicked. The last thing I wanted to do was stick out, so I just mimicked my classmates and basically parroted what they had been saying.

It was at this time that I realized that what I ate at home was very different from others. It was also at this time that I somewhat rebelled against the idea of ethnic foods and I would beg my mother to cook “normal” dishes like spaghetti or meatloaf. She obviously did not listen to the plight of an eight-year-old and to this day I am still not quite sure what meatloaf is exactly.

As I grew, my palate became a lot more open to trying even more exotic flavors and tastes and one such food I absolutely adore is the infamous Filipino food called balut. What is it exactly? Well, balut is an underdeveloped duck egg. The process of making it is rather simple. You let a duck egg be fertilized, but instead of allowing it to hatch, you stop that process while the embryo is still developing. Therefore, when you crack open the egg you can see the vague outline of a duck fetus. I know it sounds horrific, but once boiled and salted it is absolutely heavenly. I cannot even begin to describe the taste, but the different textures are so complementary and it is actually a popular breakfast meal in the Philippines.

However, despite its popularity within the country, a lot of people outside still view it as barbaric and absolutely disgusting. I can understand their perspective. Even looking at the little chick in the egg can be quite daunting, but I believe that if you can get past the look of the food then you might be surprised and find that you will enjoy it.

One thing that bothers me is a picky eater. Unfortunately two of my close friends are picky eaters and although I can accept their food aversions, it is also incredibly frustrating to go out to eat with them because they outright refuse so many different foods because of their personal tastes. It is people like this that truly miss out on amazing dishes and I honestly pity them for having such a narrow-minded view of food.

Evalyn

Vocabulary

aversion (n) – a strong dislike
plight (n) – an unfavorable, unfortunate or difficult situation
palate (n) – a person’s ability to distinguish between different flavors and tastes
embryo (n) – an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development
barbaric (adj.) – savagely cruel; unsophisticated; uncivilized
daunting (adj.) – challenging; to make someone feel apprehensive or intimidated