what is the best exotic food your country has to offer?

Philippines
March 4, 2010 1:43am CST
Our country is quite known for its exotic food. These include barbecued street-corner staples like isaw (intestines of chicken or pig), adidas (chicken's feet), betamax (coagulated chicken or pork blood) or beerhouse favorites like sisig (spiced and diced pig's head) and bopis (spiced and diced pig's heart and pig's lungs). And of course, the balut (fertilized duck embryo)! Personally I just love balut, even if it is very high in cholesterol. I was just wondering... what are the exotic but delicious foods enjoyed by other MyLotters in other countries and cultures? I may just end up one day in your country, so I might have a try :) (oh, and when you find yourself one day in the Philippines, don't forget to try our balut!)
4 responses
• United States
7 Mar 10
lol great topic, too bad im from the US. The only real "american food" i can think of would be burgers haha but thats not really exotic. Well im chinese, so we eat like stewed pork intestines, shark fin soup, snake soups, etc. oh and i think its weird that people dont like "pay-dahn"- its 100 year old duck egg, my sis and i call it black egg lol
• Philippines
13 Mar 10
I sure would like to try real american burgers. I love chinese food. Do you know that every town in our country would still have a chinese restaurant that boasts of having the best pansit (noodles) and siopao in town? Are century old eggs really a century old? I was just wondering.
• United States
13 Mar 10
Real burgers.. ther are alot of variations so for a "real" one, best to try to find the simplest one. :) I think of the kind you make at a backyard barbeque, haha sounds very american stereotype, but accurate. I think EVERYONE loves chinese food and has it everywhere! haha I've been to Manila, I didn't really try anything very "exotic"- my mum is quite traditional, I remember that julibee had really good chicken + noodles :D I remember I asked that too, my grandmother responded in chinese, so I'm not sure if I got it exactly right- it is about a century, they call "thousand- year old egg" but its either a few months to a century, so i just say century lol. It's preserved, depending what type of egg they use and how they preserve it affects how long it takes. It's really good, some won't try it because it looks so abnormal, but it's salty and really good with rice or porridge/ congee :)
• Philippines
13 Mar 10
Jollibee? Yep I love their gravy and they have the best fried chicken here in our country. But that's me being limited to what I can afford I think we have preserved eggs just like yours. IT's red and salty. Although I've seen the black eggs in some congees here in our country. Haven't tried tasting it though.
• Philippines
5 Mar 10
Hi Kababayan. Your discussion just really made me hungry and crave for all those foods. Unfortunately, I live along Makati CBD, and they don't sell anything close to that here. Anyway, I think you have covered all of the famous street and exotic foods here. Though in the provinces they stil have their own specialties. Like Soup #5 ( is that right? with the balls and everything I think), and then there's the frog legs, and the friend insects in Pampanga, which I have tried and are really good.
• Philippines
13 Mar 10
Kabayan! Oh along the MRT you could still find our favorite balut. Every street corner has it's own barbecue grill or something. I actually haven't tried soup # 5. I have accidentally eaten grilled pig snout just this week. My father just had his weekly round of drinks with his pals and their pulutan was pig snout. I didn't ask what it was and just ate it. He later told me, bu I didn't mind because it actually tasted good.
• Philippines
18 Mar 10
hahahaha. most of the exotic foods actually tastes really good. I think I know the Balut along the MRT, but I don't think balut is really balut without the walking vendor with the basket, and the chicharon and the vinegar. Hehehehe.
• Philippines
16 Jun 10
oh I do love how balut vendors drawl while selling them. baluuuuuuu-u-u-uuut. makes my day.
@dawnald (85129)
• Shingle Springs, California
4 Mar 10
Only Phillipine foods I'm familiar with are panzit and lympia. Sorry but balut sounds awful...
• Philippines
13 Mar 10
Yep a lot of people think that it's really disgusting. I used to to think of it that way too when I was a kid but my father really loved it so I'd end up eating parts of it first and later actually enjoying it. I'm glad you've tried our pansit and lumpia. Every town has it's own pansit restaurant.
@iridium (431)
13 Mar 10
well here betamax was the predecessor to the dvd! I live in the UK so we don't really have exotic food although i am in Scotland where we have the haggis. haggi are strange creatures that run around the hills and are shot every season by haggis hunters, then we boil them up in hot water for few hours, stab them open while reciting poetry and eat with neeps and tatties. strange tradition if you ask me.
• Philippines
13 Mar 10
lol on betamax. I thought that too when I was a kid. But well... I don't think any tradition is strange at all. They may seem illogical to people just looking into something they are not familiar with. But for people practising them, everything has its place and everything is quite logical. For instance animal rights activists would surely scream and shout if they've heard of people eating dogs here in our country. It's quite a cultural thing and even though local governments have tried to put a stop on it, the tradition still lingers because it's deeply rooted in the traditions and cultural beliefs of people living in that province.