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[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Why is balut grosser than squab? I've been asking myself this.

[Elder Iptuous]

isn't squab a fully formed babby, rather than a bird fetus?

[Triple Zero]

Why is balut grosser than squab? I've been asking myself this.

i had to look up squab, but it's not so much that it's a fetus, but rather that it's inside an egg, which you boil, and you eat the entire thing, bones, tiny feathers, beak, eyes, feet, everything.

I'm assuming they pluck the squab and cut off some bits such as head and feet and you eat it from the bones, not including the bones.

Also, for some reason (could be personal?) boiled things are always slightly grosser than cooked or fried things. If you could somehow manage to fry the balut, sans egg shell, it'd still be weird, but at least it'd be crispy

[East Coast Hustle]

I've never heard of that being referred to as squab.

Squab is a small woodland ground bird, like a partridge or grouse but smaller.


ETA: according to wikipedia, it's a small pigeon.

[Triple Zero]

Reading back my previous post, I see it's incredibly confusing. Sorry


I think Nigel's point was that they're also very young.

Though Wikipedia says about 1 month. Which is young, but very different from still-inside-the-egg.

[Elder Iptuous]

a fetus is inherently disturbing for me because it's in some grey zone between living thing, and dismembered organ...
if there was some animal that was tastiest right after it was born, i would be ok with that, while i would have some revulsion if it were tastiest right before it were to be born, and removed from the womb. 
the revulsion would increase the further back into gestation you went, i would think...
if it's in an egg, it's a little less disturbing, but the revulsion is still there.

also, like trip said, you're eating it bones, feathers, and all... eww.

[Sita]

I should not have looked up what balut was 
I've always had a slight fear of opening an egg to find it had an occupant, more so if it is a boiled egg. I have a thing against eating babies.

[Elder Iptuous]

fetus is gross.
baby can be good. 
mmmmm cabrito...

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Why do I keep clicking on this thread? 

[East Coast Hustle]

I wouldn't have a problem with balut if they could make it using a breed of beakless and featherless duck.

And in all fairness, that's only the 2nd grossest thing that asians do with eggs.

[Triple Zero]

Aaaand we're back to lutefisk

I think the basic conclusion is, "if you think that bad, try curing it in a strong alkaline for some time."

[Epimetheus]

I don't really care what I eat, long as it's good and has a texture other than that of a slug*.





*It was a dream I had. Couldn't eat pasta for a while after it.

[Kurt Christ]

When I was a kid, Nestle Magic Balls were basically the same as the surprise eggs. Looking it up, they had to change to having stickers inside the ball because of choking hazards.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

What's gross isn't that the egg has a fetus, it's that the fetus has GUTS.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

What's gross isn't that the egg has a fetus, it's that the fetus has GUTS.

yeah, but they're all pristine and unused! It's really not any grosser than eating a clam or a softshell crab.