Hannah Goldfield

Like, it feels so taboo.

It just... Yeah.

I feel, like, a slight sense of nausea, a little bit of shame.

And yet, the most logical part of my brain is like, sure, why not?

Yeah, nothing as extreme as the taboo of eating human meat, but the first thing that comes to mind is balut.

It's a Filipino...

and they may eat it in other parts of the world.

It's a fertilized duck egg.

I think it can also be other poultry eggs, meaning unlike an unfertilized egg that you eat with bacon for breakfast, it's been fertilized, so it's like the fetus of a duck.

You, like, pull out what looks like an embryonic bird.

I had it only once many years ago at a Filipino restaurant, but it's very, very popular there.

Like, so popular that kids eat it as, like, an after-school snack.

And I try to remember that it's, like, everything is so based on what you grew up eating, what was considered normal.

So it's, like, for me, yes, I can't quite get over how weird that feels, but I totally can understand how...

Someone could grow up eating that and think it was the most normal thing in the world.

Yes, for sure.

It just felt off to me.

Not even like, no, no, no, but like, I'm doing this so I can say that I've tried it.

But it's not something I...

Well, you know, jump at the chance to eat again.