Why is eating balut such a taboo in Western societies?!
I hear some people say because it's like eating babies. So when you eat chickens, it's like eating human adults; and when you eat eggs, it's like eating ova? Can anyone tell me why Westerners think that way about balut?
Answers:
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Because you are eating a whole baby duck... beak and all. Its gross. Here is a picture of balut:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_%28eg…
I certainly wouldn't want to put that in my mouth.
But anyway, the real answer to your question is that food is a cultural thing. What some cultures consider to be tasty food, other cultures reject. In the western world, we simply don't eat eggs that have baby birds inside of them.
But on the others hand, we're willing to drink the fluid from the mammary glands of bovine, which doesn't make sense, either. The foods that any culture eats are based on learned behaviors. If someone grows up in a culture eating a certain type of food that is shared with other members of that culture, it becomes a natural and normal thing.
The same thing is true for language and customs. Someone growing up in China is not going to be accustomed to the language if they move to Portugal. Someone who lives in the African country of Angola is not going to go door to door on Halloween and ask for candy. They simply are not accustomed to that type of cultural ritual. The same is true for eating balut. In the US, it is not part of our culture to eat eggs for breakfast that have baby birds inside of them. In the Philippines, people grew up with that and are accustomed to eating balut.
Its because most westerners are afraid of what they don't know. I agree that balut may not be the tastiest thing in the world but many people do enjoy eating in. And when you live in an area that makes it difficult for you to purchase other forms of protein, balut is the way to go. And as far as, "ooh its a poor little duck fetus" get over it. We slaughter live pigs, cows, chickens etc everyday but nobody complains when they have a ribeye or a rack of ribs on their plate.
I am a "Westerner" and I dont think that way.
However..I ordered one in Saigon in a Chinese restaurant..and then could not eat it. This has never ever happened before..I ate snake, frogs, fried insects, fried worms, alligator in my life.I was never repelled by food or squeamish. But this thing in the egg..no. My mind just refused to open the mouth. And it was not the "moral poor little embryo" thing..it was the look inside that egg..
Thats what made my mind stop:
http://i51.tinypic.com/16krvo0.jpg
It's unfair to consume something for food that hasn't even had a chance to be born yet. Eggs are unfertilized. Would you eat pig or cow fetuses?
It is because it is strange to many in the west.
It's a culture thing..Some are simply not accustomed to that.
