What's up with balut?

Think Different · Post by **Think Different** » April 20th, 2010, 7:01 pm

OK, I've never been to the Philippines, but I know plenty of people who have travelled there. So, what's the deal with balut? Duck embryos? Do people really eat that? What's it taste like? Is it common, or is it a "delicacy", which is rarely eaten?

Post by **Winston** » April 20th, 2010, 9:45 pm

It is common and cheap. I don't know what it tastes like, but Filipinos say it tastes good, like chicken.

You can find them in the US too. Vietnamese families eat them. I don't know where they get them though, maybe at Asian grocer stores?

It disgusts me as a vegetarian though.

momopi · Post by **momopi** » April 23rd, 2010, 7:12 pm

You can buy balut at local PH supermarkets here in LA. We also have Jolibee, Chow King, Red Ribbon, etc. here. The chicken joy is not as good though.

Balut is one of those ethnic foods that you should probably avoid unless if you grew up with it.

Post by **Winston** » April 24th, 2010, 1:00 am

How can there be a Chow King in LA? It could never survive in the states. Its food is so bad in quality that you'd think that they must have purposely tried to make it bad. No one I know in the US would eat there. Yuck.

Momopi, have you tried balut?

momopi · Post by **momopi** » April 24th, 2010, 8:35 am

California has a large PH ex pat population. There are quite a few PH fast food chains here. The Chow King in Cerritos got 3.5 stars on YELP:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/chowking-cerritos

Read the comments and see what their customers think.

And no, I don't eat balute. You can find it at local PH supermarkets here though:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/seafood-city-cerritos

p.s. I went to high school in the Cerritos area.