Balut is a popular, although unusual delicacy, served everywhere from street stalls to upscale restaurants.
“It is a duck egg that has been hard-boiled, fertilized, and incubated. Traditionally, the cooked embryo is consumed straight from the shell. It is considered an aphrodisiac that is commonly paired with a cold beer on the side,” TasteAtlas described.
In Vietnam, balut is known as trung quick lon (duck egg embryos) that can be found at street-side stalls or food courts.
While boiled version is a common choice, Vietnamese street food vendors also offer stir-fried egg embryos with tamarind sauce topped with fried onions and peanuts.
Boiled fertilized duck eggs are served with Vietnamese coriander rau ram and pepper salt with lemon. Photo by Read/Bui Thuy |
One fetal duck egg provides 182,000 calories, 13.6 grams of protein, 12.4 grams of lipid, 82 milligrams of calcium, 212 grams of phosphor and 600 milligrams of cholesterol, studies have found. It also provides high amounts of beta carotene, vitamins and iron.
Hon mhai (deep-fried silk worms), a traditional insect dish that’s especially popular in Thailand’s Bangkok, was the worst rated dish in the region, followed by Brunei’s Ambuyat.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on audience reviews, supported by mechanisms designed to identify genuine users, filter out bot-driven, nationalist and locally biased ratings, and give greater weight to assessments from users recognized by the system as knowledgeable about food.
For its “100 Worst Rated Southeast Asian Foods” list updated this month, TasteAtlas recorded 37,894 ratings, of which 26,021 were verified by the platform as legitimate.
TasteAtlas said its rankings should not be viewed as a definitive global judgment on cuisine, but rather as a way to promote outstanding local dishes, encourage pride in traditional foods and spark curiosity about lesser-known specialties.
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