May 24

I guess I miss my Lola. I’ve found myself talking about her a lot these days. My grandmother is asian – she’s from the Philippines. So when I was a kid, she would let me try all these dishes that I enjoyed a lot. I had Adobo for the first time I was six years old and by god I could swear that I loved it. She also served some sticky rice and made us halo-halo for dessert.

Though one thing I couldn’t forget was when I first visited Manila when I was 12. It was the first time I had ever tried balut. Balut is basically a chick enclosed in a shell that they cook for you to eat, as is. Yeah. So when you crack the shell open, you’ll find a chick in fetal position waiting for you to eat it.

I threw up in an instant. I mean I’ve never seen such a thing before. But you know now, it doesn’t seem to taste as bad. This is I speaking and leaving that traumatic period behind. Things will change the moment I sit in front of a balut and I’m guessing I’d probably cry a tear or two at the sight of one but I’m trying to be a man about it because 12 seems a little too long ago. Among others that I’ve tried so far are frog and snake and well, they tasted more like chicken to me than the balut.

In China, they serve Monkey Brain as a delicacy in some provinces. Some say that they have tables that have holes in the middle, for the monkey’s head to fit in. The chef later on swiftly cuts the head open and then the brain is served for the diners. Some people also pour liquor into the brain to add some flavor. In some provinces, the tables are designed to hold just the head and the extremities of the monkey that while the diners ate the brain, the rest of the body would shake and rattle. Some people are fond of this because of the unfounded positive effects of monkey brain to cure impotence.

Personally, I’m not a fan of this news because I think it is cruel, but to state facts, here they are.

In Central America, Iguanas are also considered food. Cruelty is a big issue as the tendons are cut off their front legs and are tied behind their backs so they don’t get to escape.

In Venezuela, they serve spiders that originated from one of their tribes, and in Cambodia they serve fried Tarantula.

I guess with all this information on exotic food, I might as well just eat balut. It doesn’t seem to appear on an endangered animals list, nor does it tickle me weird. Its just a little bit out of the norm but it certainly ain’t monkey brain.