Balut anyone?

I have never been an adventerous eater. You would think that would be the end of my story but I slowly started to explore into the wonderful world of international cuisine. I joined the United States Army in October of 2009. I was excited because I was finally going to be able to travel since I had never left the states. I was very lucky and have gotten to visit some beautiful and unique places. In 2010, I deployed to Iraq. I was able to sit down with a very kind Iraqi family and try Masgouf. A dish that would have been the main course of this story, but I have an even better one.

It was the summer of 2012, I got stationed in Korea and I wanted to do some traveling. I made some awesome friends whom I would go places with whenever I had a four day weekend or just some time off. We went to Japan and I got to see the cherry blossoms. It was so beautiful. I was living my best life and I couldn't be happier. I was hanging out in my room one Thurdsay night watching youtube videos when one of my best girl friend's knocked on my door and popped her head in.

"Hey Steph... you up for an adventure this weekend?" She asked me.

I nodded my head, "Sure, what are you thinking?"

A couple of the guys are talking about going to Baguio, you wanna tag along?" Bonnie asked me. I looked at her for a moment, I had no idea where that was and she knew it. She was waiting to see if I was going to guess or just finally come out and ask her.

"It is the Philippines." Bonnie said laughing under her breath. I got up from my chair and started to pack as we were about to go on another adventure.

Some hours later; Bonnie, Michael, David and myself checked into our small but fun hotel and decided to check out the night life. We went out and had some drinks and made plans to do some sight seeing the next day. The next day came and we started to explore the city. We talked with the locals and really dug deep into the wonderful culture we were experiencing.

Lunch time was fast approaching so we decided it was time to try out some of the local food. I was still shedding my boring ways regarding food and agreed that I would try anything.. once. When I said this, everyone at the table including our tour guide grinned. I felt a shiver travel up my spine.

What had I just gotten myself into? I wondered to myself.

Everyone ordered and when it came my turn our tour guide ordered for me. "She will have Balut." He said with a grin plastered on my face.

I was actually pretty nervous, what did he just order me? I was tempted to pull out my iphone 4 and look it up. I resisted the urge and talked to my friends as we waited. Their food all came out first and then suddenly a plate was placed in front of me.

"Oh, this is Balut?" I asked. I looked at the egg. It looked like it had been boiled. I was already not a fan of boiled eggs so I could already feel my stomach roll but I was not going to chicken out.

"Crack it open and dig in." The tour guide said. I looked around at my group of friends and grabbed a spoon that I tapped against the egg to crack it open. As I cracked it open, I saw a little eyeball looking up at me. I physically jumped a bit, I realized I was looking at a fertilized egg. I wasn't sure what bird it was and the confusion must have shown on my face because the tour guide explained.

"It is a fertilized duck egg. These ones have been buried in sand for nine days, then put under a lamp for five days then seasons and served to be eaten." The tour guide then started to eat his own food as I noticed all my friend's eyes were still on me.

I was not going to back out now, I started to crack away more of the shell until I could get the majority of the duck onto the spoon. I kept looking at it. Feathers had started to form and I could see the veins clearly running along the small body. By this time my stomach had fallen out of my body and was under my seat.

"Steph, you don't have to if it is too much for you to do." Bonnie said. She was a good and encouraging friend. While the guys were egging me on. I closed my eyes, feeling my heart beat a mile a minute. I brought the spoon to my mouth and took a deep breath. Annnnnddd... jerked the spoon from my mouth.

"I'm not sure I can do this!" I exclaimed exasperated at myself. I said I was going to try it and I didn't want to go back on my word. I closed my eyes and said a quick prayer before finally taking a large bite. The first thing I noticed salt, pepper, garlic and feathers. The bones were soft but I could still hear the slight crunch of them. I chewed quickly and swallowed, proud of myself that I didn't gag. The taste actually wasn't bad, it was definately mind over stomach.

All my friends gave me a high five and asked me how it was. I told them it wasn't bad. I used the cliche line that it tasted like chicken. Trying Balut fully open the door to me trying new foods, I jumped in feet first and have never not tried something at least once.