Filipino food
RICE!!!! Basically that’s the main ingredient in any Filipino food dish.
Plain, mixed with savoury or sweet ingredients, fried, cooked, any form Filipinos can get it in will do. But there is more to the Philippine cuisine than just rice. Adobo, Kaldereta, Lechon, they’re all popular dishes here. However there are a few that acquire special taste buds.
I can’t write this blog without including one of the most (in)famous types of food in the Philippines: Balut. Balut is a boiled fertilized duck egg and comes in different forms depending on the age of the duck embryo. Here in the Dauin region of Negros Oriental, the most popular stages are 16, 18 or 20 days. At 16 days the embryo is fully formed, but is still missing its feathers. At 18 days these feathers have developed and at 20 days it is a grown duck embryo. Keep in mind that duck eggs hatch around the 26 day mark. Most of our Liquid Dive employees have voted for the 16 days to be their favorite.
Eating balut is not without skill. Have a look at this short tutorial on ‘How to eat balut’ and try not to vomit in the meantime.
- Make a small hole on the rounder part of the shell.
- Crack it a little more until the hole is the size of a bottle cap. Drink the broth from the inner sides like drinking a shot of Tequila. I’ve got to say that I’d rather have a Liquid Deco Shot than a shot of duck embryo juice…
- Enlarge the opening. Sprinkle or dash whatever seasoning you desire on the contents. The most common seasoning is rough sea salt, which the vendor is expected to supply you. Otherwise, it’s vinegar spiced with chilies and minced onions, also available from the balut vendor.
- Enlarge the opening sufficiently for you to bite off a bit of the yolk. Similar to the boiled chicken egg yolk, only it looks way more disgusting because of the veins running through it.
- When you come to the duckling, eat that too. Yummy 😉 At the bottom of the egg, there will be a hardened white lump of egg white. Most Filipinos don’t eat this part, because it is quite tough.
This whole balut experience doesn’t really seem to appealing to me. But for most travellers it is one of the must-try foods whilst in the Philippines. Let me know what you guys think! Has anyone ever tried it?
Don’t get scared off by this Philippine food experience! There’s lots of other good dishes to try. Come on down to Liquid Dive Dumaguete, there’s a tasty Filipino dish on our lunch menu every day.
But if you want Balut, you are out of luck!
-Berlinda
