Besides the rice, pancit and chicken adobo, filipino cuisine also offers a strange assortment of foods that not all Filipinos know about. For example, did you know that animal bile is used in some Filipino dishes or that the chocolate in chocolate meat isn’t really what it seems? As disgusting as it may sound, some of these dishes are actually tasty and delicious.

Balut

One of the most widely known delicacies to Filipinos, the balut is a two-week-old duck embryo baked in their shell. It is eaten by cracking a small hole on the rounder part of the shell till it becomes the size of a bottle cap. Salt is usually sprinkled on top for seasoning, the juice from the balut is sipped and then voila, the small little duck is eaten.

Dinuguan

Also called dinardaraan in Ilocano, or chocolate meat in English. This dish is a savory stew of blood and meat simmered in a rich gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili and vinegar. The term dinuguan comes from the word dugo meaning “blood”. It is recognizably thick and dark, hence the Westernized euphemism “chocolate meat.”

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