Search up strange, odd, or weird foods in the Philippines and you’ll get bombarded with articles telling you about dishes made from the likes of crickets, bulls penis, and wormlike creatures. But the truth is, unless you go out of your way to find these foods, then I can almost guarantee you wont be trying them. I mean, I’ve spent five months traveling around the Philippines and never once was I offered the chance of eating anything even resembling a penis. This isn’t to say you wont have the opportunity to try some bizarre foods on your trip, on the contrary. These are five weird Filipino foods you’ll actually see in the Philippines.
Isaw (Chicken Intestines)
Trying Isaw can be summed up in two words. A gamble. Unlike the thrill of potential wealth though, your instead faced with the gamble of whether or not your gonna end up with a mouth full of shit. Or maybe I’m just full of it... I mean I guess I can’t say for certain what the mysterious, grainy, light brown filling was inside of the one I naively chewed into, only that I was warned before my hunt for intestines that sometimes, they simply just aren’t cleaned out very well. Perhaps I was unlucky though, I mean there’s got to be a reason so many Filipinos love this stuff. For me though, I just can’t find that reason, but maybe you can.
Adidas (Chicken feet)
Now unlike Quentin Tarantino or Dan Schneider, I’m not particularly fond of having feet in my mouth. Especially not ones that have, most certainly, been shuffling around in chicken shit up to the point of being detached from the rest of the body. But regardless, when you’re in a foreign country, already sticking strange, new, and hopefully sanitary things into your mouth, you might as well just go all the way. At least that’s what I tell myself, because I have in fact not tried these. Being slightly harder to come across than their intestinal counterpart, I’ve seen these things a little less than a dozen times during my five months in the Philippines, and I must not have been feeling very brave those days. There’s always next time though.
Dinuguan (Pork Blood Soup)
Thick blood soup with chunks I can only describe as similar to that of the piece of half dried, crumbling, mud on the side of your boots. Dinuguan is relatively more tame in the flavor department than you’d expect, but not nearly as tasty as the expelled juices from a freshly cooked, medium raw steak. But go ahead and try it, you might actually enjoy it. I’d recommend pairing it with white rice as with most Filipino dishes.
Betamex (Coagulated Chicken Blood)
Did your mouth salivate at my description of dinuguan? Do you wish to anger the Filipino cultist of Iglesia Ni Cristo by divulging in more food made with blood? Maybe your simply offput by the texture of dinuguan and much prefer your blood to be spongy, in the shape of a cube, and stuck on a stick? If any of these rings true then my friend, you are in luck. You should have no issue finding these. Go up to your nearest street vendor grilling meats and there’s a good chance they sell it.
Balut (Fertilized Duck Egg)
If you couldn’t already tell by looking at it, the slight crunch and pursuing chills you get will remind you this is no average hard boiled egg, this is, in fact, balut. A boiled duck egg embryo. These can vary depending on how far along the poor duckling was. You may find you’ve gotten a little more than just yolk. A little beak or bone, and even perhaps some feathers too. If you can face your fears you’ll find it really doesn’t taste all that different from a normal hard boiled egg. When I tried it I went straight in, breaking the top and taking a bite, however ask any Filipino and they’ll tell you the real method is to crack it open, add a bit of salt and vinegar, and then drink the concoction of juices before peeling away the rest of the shell and chowing down on it like your life depended on it.
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