The science experiment you eat
Acceptance of balut often depends on exposure at a young age, much like Vegemite in Australia.
In an apparent attempt to preserve the delicacy's popularity among the country's rapidly modernizing and discriminating palates, some schools in the Philippines introduce balut to young students during science classes.
Students use balut to study the anatomy of birds, then eat the compressed bird beak, veins and developing wings within.
"Our teacher made us eat the egg so it wouldn't go to waste," says Manila resident Anna Vecin of her ordeal.
"And if we didn't eat it, we'd get a low score on that day's lesson. Of course, I had no choice but to eat it."
The experience can leave some with a lifelong aversion to the so-called national delicacy. Even balut's tamer cousin, penoy -- an unfertilized duck egg billed as a less carnal option, given that it lacks the semi-developed chick within -- can be hard to stomach.
