Exotic food in the Philippines

Every country on the planet has local delicacies and exclusive foods that maximum foreigners discover strange, or simply plain revolting! The Philippines is not any exception. As an American Expat who has lived inside the Philippines in view that 2009 and a proud Foreignoy (Half Filipino half of Foreigner), I've found out to love a variety of Filipino meals. I'm an adventurous person, so I've tried most of the distinguished foods in this list - but not all. Some are just a bridge too far. Below are ten loopy Filipino ingredients you actually have to see to believe! Bon appetite!

Balut

Balut might be the maximum internationally famous road meals eaten by Filipinos. I make all my pals who visit me in the Philippines try balut! Balut is a developing duck embryo that is boiled and eaten from the shell. It’s regularly served with salt and vinegar. Like the ice cream man within the USA, balut salesmen may be heard on foot via neighborhoods calling out "balut, balut", frequently at night. Many Filipino men devour balut because they believe it's far an aphrodisiac - a substance that will increase libido when consumed. It type of tastes like brains meets scrambled eggs. It's an important source of protein for millions here within the Philippines, and in fact no longer as bad because it looks.

Soup No. 5

Soup No. 5 is particularly disgusting for most foreigners because it's far crafted from bull or ox genitals. This dish too is assume to make a man extra potent. Would you consume this?

Chicken Heads

Filipinos eat pretty much every part of the hen - along with the head. Heads are regularly grilled on sticks and served as road food. Chicken heads are also usually used as "pulutan" - food that is eaten even as you drink. I tried chicken heads for the first time when I changed into in Zamabales filming a TV Show for GMA News 11 called "Prom D City". They don't have lots meat on the heads, but yeah, it tastes like hen!

Chicharon Bulaklak

If you don't like fried food, don't come to the Philippines. Filipinos fry pretty much everything. Behold a nearby delicacy called "chicharon bulaklak", that's fried pig intestines. This is one factor I have in no way tried because I want to live to be a one hundred and I keep away from all fried foods just like the plague. Chicharon bulaklak is often served with chili, onion and vinegar, as seen above.

Fruit Bat Stew

Remember how I wrote in advance that some Filipino food is truly a bridge to far, and I cannot get myself to attempt it? Well fruit bat stew is one of those dishes! Fruit Bats, also known as "Flying Foxes", are a food source for people in lots of rural components of the Philippines, and other parts of Asia, where they're sometimes known as the "hen of the cave." In addition to being hunted as a meals supply for human beings, bats also are looked for their skins and guano.

Kamaru

Kamaru, or mole crickets, are rice discipline crickets that basically feed themselves with the rice grains and leaves. These insects are full of protein and B vitamins, and plenty of Filipinos love eating them! They aren't that terrible tasting and they are cheap - a kilo of these crickets costs about a dollar. Over billion people on earth eat insects routinely, but changing Western consumers stays a very tough sell.

Tuslob-buwa

"Tuslob" means “dip" and "Buwa" means "bubbles" in Cebuano, the language spoken in the Visayas area of the Philippines. This Cebuano meals is made from pig's brain, red meat liver or intestines (optional), onions, oil, soy sauce, fish sauce and other numerous seasonings. “Tuslob Buwa” is basically a neighborhood dip product of the mentioned elements. Often balls of sticky rice are dipped in this dish. This one actually isn't always as bad as it sounds. Brains sort of have the feel of scrambled eggs.

Rats

The most effective rats you’re probable acquainted with are the city rats who soak up residence inside the darkish and dirty corners of your home and in sewers. Those aren't the forms of rats which are being cooked and eaten. The ones being cooked are from farms wherein the rats handiest consume rice from the rice field. It’s skinned with the innards disposed of and the tail and ft. cut. It’s frequently cooked adobo style (the fav cooking fashion of Filipinos) and seemingly it tastes like chicken.

Adidas

Like maximum Asians, Filipinos like to devour chicken feet, which they call "adidas", named after the shoes. Most of the fit for human consumption meat on the ft includes skin, tendons and muscle, and the texture could be very gelatinous. This gives adidas a awesome texture distinct from the rest of the chicken's meat. They aren't clean to consume, many small bones which you have to spit out as you go. Nevertheless, they may be cherished here inside the Philippines, as they may be in China and maximum different Asian countries