Food | Visit50.com: Travel the World!

Balut – would you eat Duck Fetus?

Jul 182012

Balut — Would you eat Duck Fetus? They eat Balut in the Philippines, and Balut might be the only food I refused my entire trip through Asia.

When I’m traveling, I always want to sample the local food, and I’ll try almost everything. I’ve tried guinea pigs (cuy!) in Peru, grasshoppers and scorpions in Thailand, and just about every organ or body party of a cow, duck, or chicken that you can think of in mainland China (including duck intestine, pig brain). Where do I draw the line? Balut – duck fetus. Duck fetus is not for me. I just couldn’t bring myself to try eating Balut, which is a Fetal Duck Egg.

What is Balut? Balut is fertilized duck embryo – the embryo is allowed to grow and mature for about 17 days until it is quite clearly a baby duck. That’s right. A baby duck, with all its baby duck parts stuffed into a shell with the yolk and egg white, now crisscrossed with blood vessels and feather-like growths. Yes, sometimes Balut is even has the beginnings of feathers. At this point Balut is soft-boiled and eaten whole.

Balut: ready to eat a duck fetus? Read more... (514 words, 11 images, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Posted by Todd Tagged with: Food

7 Philippine cuisines – Halo-Halo, Adobo, Kare-Kare, Balut, and more

Feb 132012

While the Philippines certainly aren’t known for their food, below are 7 Pinoy dishes that stand out from my month in the country, and one that I absolutely would not try (it’s a duck fetus – scroll the bottom to see Bourdain eat it).

1. Halo-halo! – it’s #1 not for the taste but for the joy people get just saying the name. It might be impossible to pronounce it properly without smiling. I’m serious – I heard it spoken dozens of times in my month in the Philippines, and each time I’d see a wider smile than the last. I really wanted to like it! Despite the welcomed enthusiasm, I found it to be disappointingly not that tasty.

Halo Halo! Filippino dessert (Visit50.com)

Halo-halo! Filipino dessert from my first day in the Philippines

What’s in halo-halo? The name translates in english to “mix-mix” and it’s fitting. It’s always made of shaved ice, evaporated milk, and sugar, and then it appears to be whatever they have to throw in. Red beans, coconut gel, jackfruit, tapioca, corn flakes, jelly beans, yams, plantains caramelized in sugar…yeah throw it in!

You may remember Halo-halo! from Top Chef: Read more... (544 words, 19 images, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Posted by Todd Tagged with: Food

Malaysia: Southeast Asia’s Next Great Foodie Destination

Jun 222011

Budget Travel had a good article on Malaysia as Malaysia: Southeast Asia’s Next Great Foodie Destination.

Malaysian food mixes in so many cultures—Arabic, Chinese, Thai, Indian, and more—that you could never appreciate them all in one sitting. So bring your appetite.

: Malaysia Roast Pork at Yut Kee, a traditional coffeehouse (or kopitiam) in Kuala Lumpur

For more on my experience: Eat your way around Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur edition

http://50and50by50.com/2011/03/eat-your-way-around-kl/

Posted by Todd Tagged with: Food

My Malaysia trip, sponsored by Purell, Pepto, and Kleenex

May 182011

Purell from my Malaysia trip - you'll need LOTS of this

Alt title: The 3 Seashells Method vs The Cucumber Method

[squeemish warning - you may find this post to be disturbing, on par with the post on airline bacteria]

Paradox: The more likely a culture is to eat meals with their hands, the less likely to find napkins on the table… or even soap in the bathrooms. Disturbing!

Mailbag: After a few posts raving about the fun of choosing your own fresh fish at a market and eating street food, I’ve been asked a bunch of related questions about the quality of food, safety of eating street food, cleanliness of restaurants, and even if the “Three Seashells” method was used (best line from the movie, Demolition Man). This post is for you! So yes, after traveling around KL and all around Malaysian Borneo, I had to make a few mental adjustments and preparations. Here are a few observations: Read more... (756 words, 13 images, estimated 3:01 mins reading time)

Like a lot of other areas in the world, if you’re eating with the locals in Malaysia, often no utensils are used. Occasionally you find chopsticks and definitely no forks, no knives, nothing. Not even a spork! Westerners are used to using our hands for foods like hamburgers, fruit, and bite sized appetizers, but nothing as little as rice, and nothing messy.

Posted by Todd Tagged with: Food

Eat your way around Borneo!

May 172011

do any of these look like dinner to you?

I definitely ate my way around Malaysia, especially KL and Kuching (in Sarawak, western Malaysian Borneo). I tried all kinds of new dishes – in Sarawak notable new dishes for me included Laksa, Manok pansoh, Kolok Mee, and more.

I loved their seafood markets – for one of they took over the roofdeck of a parking garage and turned it into a fish market, setting up a dozen mini-restaurant vendors like a food court in a mall. Fresh, cheap, and yummy!

: do any of these look like dinner to you?

: that one!

: dinner is served

Posted by Todd Tagged with: Food

Celebrating Chinese New Year in Asia

May 092011

To celebrate my first Chinese New Year in Asia, I left the jungle and headed to Kota Kinabalu (everyone calls it “KK”), the largest city in Sabah, in Malaysian Borneo. I was really interested to see how people celebrate; apparently not enough to do any homework on what Chinese New Year actually is. Oops!

For those of you that are as ignorant as I was, it’s a family holiday, similar to the way Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. So there were no big parties with the irrational excitement of elaborate countdowns signifying the exact moment of the new year. Instead I found myself in a predominantly conservative Muslim country (read: doesn’t drink) in a city with 11 bars, on a night that’s least likely to have any energy at the bars. Hmm… Still it was a good time.

We ate at the night market with the locals (dinner for them, appetizer for us). Look at all of that goodness!