Written by: seigfredtristan on February 8, 2011

Before you start reading, I would like to ask a favor. Can you please send a link of my previous post (click this) to a non-Filipino who has no idea what Filipinos eat. Get their reaction and place it as a comment on that previous post or you can do it here.

Now that previous post, that entire article, is a joke. Of course Filipinos eat normal food. We eat fried chicken, we eat pork roasts (and it was actually endorsed by Anthony Bourdain as the best pork roast in the world), we eat bread (goodness), actually… we eat almost anything. And on that note that this post will have its bearing. Filipinos eat almost anything. For a foreigner, it can become strange, weird, bizarre and exotic. Some dig it, some don’t. I gathered a restrained list:

Balut

What can I tell you about Balut that you don’t already know? If you don’t know what balut is, it is a 14-17-day old duck egg that’s boiled and eaten. So you see, the baby duck is already visible when you crack the boiled egg open. Here’s a picture.

courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I am gathering all my existing memories about Balut and to sum it all up, it is something that can roll your eyeballs (of delight or disgust) the moment you suck the aborted duck fetus. I know its distinct smell but I will not divulge it here because it can be very disturbing to some readers. I don’t know what’s with balut but it’s only sold and eaten at night. Whenever you see a guy carrying a 2 feet-drum, shouting something like Helloooooooo! He is probably the balut vendor and is actually shouting Baluuuuuuuut!

Now, what you don’t know about Balut is it is also a card game devised by an American soldier while he was stationed in the Philippines. It is strangely famous with Danish businessmen. Beats me.

Barbecued Innards

I don’t consider this strange because with shows like Bizarre Foods and famous restaurants like St. John, offal and innards are now becoming a staple in restaurants. But Filipinos eat innards and offal that can make your typical white man puke their guts out. If you walk around in heavily populated villages in the Philippines, it only takes a few corners before you see a cart that serves skewered and barbecued pork and chicken liver, coagulated blood, intestines, the almighty and crunchy pig’s ears, chicken skin, kidney’s, heart and pope’s nose barbecue. They are usually marinated in ketchup to electric redness and barbecued along streets that take on heavy lashing from a hundred jeepney combustions. If you ask me, that’s the secret recipe. I actually made one out of chicken skin, click on the image to go to the recipe.

Chicken Feet

I know I should have included it above but Chicken feet or Adidas as everyone calls it in the Philippines is a claw closer to my heart. Chinese-Filipino restaurants make a mean steamed chicken feet. And you don’t eat it because of the flavor. You eat it it because it is a challenge. The best part is the protruding skin in the middle of its…. should I call it palm?

Frogs, dogs and cats

The Americans and French eat a lot of frogs. But dogs and cats will definitely send someone to hell. Unless of course if you haven’t eaten anything for days and the only available source of protein would be your furry bestfriend. Take note, I do not eats cats and dogs, neither do I cook them. What I feel towards those who eat them is indifference. If they eat it, I don’t care, if they don’t then good. Dog meat is usually cooked as Kaldereta or Adobo, either way the end product is called Azucena (Aso is a Filipino word dog thus the name). Cats on the other hand is a universal misconception directed towards the Chinese. I have no idea if there is a real cat recipe but the usual suspect where cooked cat meat resides is the Chinese-Filipino’s Siopao or Sweet Buns. I have a deflated siopao picture here.

Man I sound serious in this post. Oh by the way, these weird, strange, bizarre and exotic Filipino foods are believed to be aphrodisiacs. they have taken Viagra’s place even before someone thought of making the power-pill. It’s Valentine’s this coming week so boys, if you want extra-strength for your knee-caps and what’s directly above and between them (goodness) you know what to eat.

I didn’t include a lot of these kinds of foods because I am waiting for you to share one if you know one. So, your turn.

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Click here for one weird, strange, bizarre and exotic recipe – Kangaroo Adobo Recipe

Actually, most of these foods are considered Aphrodisiacs, so I wrote about it here