Reaction of Japanese tourists eating balut for the first time

Balut has been named among the "worst foods in the world ", but many foreign tourists are curious and want to try it once.

Vietnamese cuisine is a topic of interest to many bloggers from all over the world. In January, Japanese YouTuber Kazuki Matsumoto posted on his KiKi.Jp channel, which has nearly 150,000 views, a video exploring Saigon street food with friends.

On this food tour, Mr. Kazuki took his Japanese friend to enjoy a dish familiar to Vietnamese people but strange to many foreigners - balut.

Kazuki visited a popular restaurant in the Ho Thi Ky food street, District 10. Before deciding to eat this dish, he warned his friend that the food might be a bit scary. However, the Japanese female tourist was excited and wanted to try it once to know the taste.

Balut served with Vietnamese coriander, salt, pepper, lemon and chili. Photo: Marko Peek

Kazuki shared that he had lived in Vietnam for more than 6 years and could eat this dish. He explained to his companions that the dish was the embryonic part of a duck in the making. One of the two guests accompanying Kazuki immediately refused to try it and just wanted to observe how it was eaten.

Kazuki quickly cracked the duck egg and gently split the shell, pouring the water inside the egg into a bowl, adding that the water was "delicious and nutritious".

Upon seeing the inside of the egg, the two Japanese tourists expressed surprise. The woman refused to eat the egg, looking scared. The other female tourist cautiously enjoyed the dish, starting by tasting the liquid inside the egg.

"The taste is quite similar to Japanese oden hotpot broth," the girl said.

After much hesitation and encouragement from Kazuki, the female tourist finally mustered up the courage to take the first bite. She said the taste was delicious, in contrast to its somewhat scary appearance.

Japanese female tourist peels a balut egg by herself. Photo cut from clip

However, when she discovered that the egg was forming a duck beak and feathers, the female tourist could not eat it anymore because of fear. Leaving the balut shop, Kazuki continued to lead the two Japanese tourists to experience other street foods in Ho Thi Ky such as grilled cheese skewers, stuffed snails, grilled octopus, and banh xeo.

In the list of the world's 100 most underrated foods in 2023 published by Taste Altas , the balut was rated 2.8 out of 5 points and ranked 13th. The world-famous culinary website described this as a strange but quite popular dish, served everywhere, from street stalls to large restaurants. Balut is a half-hatched egg, boiled before eating.

This dish is popular in Vietnam and the Philippines. In Vietnam, it is often eaten for breakfast and snacks. People often eat it with porridge or add it to hot pot to sweeten the broth. In the Philippines, balut is considered a miracle drug to help strengthen the virility, often combined with a glass of cold beer. The dish is served with chili, garlic, vinegar, salt, lime juice, pepper and mint leaves.

Bich Phuong (Source: kiki.jp)

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