The Eating of the Balut

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Well, yesterday afternoon we walked over to the next block, where my nephews Jose and Ben live with their families, and spent some time hanging out at the Mangaoang store. The girls played badminton and volleyball in the street with their cousins, and I sat and talked with my nephews Ben and Galileo (the oldest) and met lots of nieces and nephews and lots and lots of children.

(A digression, if you please, on the blessing of children. Upon meeting an older relative, Filipino children are taught to take the elder’s hand and raise it to their foreheads so that the elder can bless them. At this moment, my brother has 29 great-grandchildren (including Abigail’s two-week-old daughter, Angel Eloisa), so I’m getting plenty of practice. Although technically, I’m their aunt or great-aunt or great-great-aunt, everyone has just started calling me “Lola” or grandmother.)

After the games were over, and everyone was sitting around drinking pop or beer and the kids were enjoying some dumdums (lollipops) from the enormous bag we brought with us, a young man came by selling balut. For those who’ve never watched Bizarre Foods or No Reservations on the Travel Channel, balut is a duck egg in which the embryo has been allowed to develop. When they reach a certain stage of maturity, the eggs with the embryos are cooked and then sold hot by the Filipino equivalent of door-to-door salesmen. Rosario bought a couple of bags of balut and then the show began.

Teresita, Jose’s wife, called us over and along with my great-niece Holly Lou, provided instructions (with plenty of assistance from the crowd). We peeled a little shell off of one end, sprinkled a little salt into the opening, and then drank the liquid that collects in the shell. Then you peel the egg the rest of the way, add some more salt, and pop it into your mouth. Basically, it tastes like a very fresh hardboiled egg, with a little creamy patch. The only part I didn’t like that much was the hard white that collects at the bottom end. It’s the albumin with uric acid and it’s pretty crunchy.

But, as you can see, EVERYONE was gathered around to watch us eat our first balut. Rosario finished hers first and was awarded with a big cheer from the gathered relatives.

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Photos

The Newest Mangaoang
Abigail Madriaga (my nephew Tito's daughter) and her daughter Alyssa and 14-day-old daughter Angel Eloisa

The Hood
On the street in front of my nephew Ben's house

Family History
Talking with Ben about the history of our family and my dad Ernesto . . . in the Ilocano style Ben refers to him as Our Estong (the respectful name for an elder named Ernesto)

With Galileo's Family
Here are a daughter and the granddaughters of my oldest nephew, Galileo.

Little Warly
this is the son of Juliet (Ben's youngest daughter) and her husband Warlito. They also have a daughter, Walyssa, who brings me something everyday from her mom

The balut
Holly and Teresita are telling us how to crack the balut

The crowd gathers
as word got out that the relatives from America were going to eat their first balut, more and more relatives gathered around

the balut
the dark patch is the embryo.

Initiated
Having eaten our first balut, we posed for Holly Lou