when i first arrived here in the philippines last january, one of my goals was to avoid eating balut, one of the street foods. balut has been hyped up a lot by foreigners and filipinos alike. i thought it was completely disgusting, and i was determined complete my year and a half here without eating it.
but a lot has changed since last january, including my aversion to balut. under the influence of a wonderful individual named michelle soriano, whom i had the pleasure of getting to know for two weeks in january, i decided that a fertilized duck egg was not actually a big deal, and that i was going to try it after all.
of course the ladies at samaritana were thrilled that i was finally going to try it.
one day, we decided that all of us were going to eat it together. we stopped by the local market to buy one for each of us.
they don’t look so scary in that picture there, but they actually are quite frightening when you hold them up close. as i held that fertilized duck egg in my hands, i started having doubts. i began peeling off the shell, and noticed the veins, the insides, the fetus…
“oh my gosh…why am i doing this again?” i asked, as i stared at the egg.
“because you LOVE us”, michelle replied with a smile.
“you’re right, i guess i do…”
that was my first attempt at eating it. it was a centimeter from my mouth, but at the last second, i just couldn’t do it. i just kept staring at it and thinking thoughts about ducks- happy ducks running around a pond, with cute feathers and cute beaks, and i couldn’t stop thinking about happy ducks…
“ZIWEI! OOOHHHH MY GOODNESS!! STOP LOOKING AT IT! JUST SHOVE IT IN YOUR MOUTH!!!!!”
i took a deep breath, and did as she told me:
it took every ounce of willpower i had to not spit it all out. and that night, i learned that i actually have a lot of willpower.
PANALO! :D
