Students from the Center for Culinary Art Manila serve hundreds of balut, a local delicacy of boiled duck embryo, on banana leaves in preparation for the boodle feast during an attempt to make a Guinness World Record in Pateros town on Friday. Photo by Romeo Ranoco, Reuters
PATEROS - A suburb in Metro Manila held a feast of balut on Friday in the hope of setting a world record for the largest serving of the local delicacy.
Organisers from Pateros town said more than 500 participants joined the feast and ate a total of 117.5 kilograms of duck embryos, which had been cooked with vinegar and soy sauce by culinary students.
Around 1,000 eggs were prepared for the record attempt.
Fertilised duck egg, known locally as "balut", is common in Southeast Asia and is seen as an exotic dish. It is cooked by boiling two to three week old duck eggs and eaten with the chick foetus intact.
Pateros town Mayor, Joey Medina, said the record attempt was to highlight the benefits of eating the dish.
"Balut has a lot of calcium, is nutritious, has protein and can strengthen the knees. This world record that we are setting, for the biggest number of balut and the largest feast, is historic for us," he said.
Tables stretching across the length of the street were prepared for the hundreds of participants who dined on banana leaves using their hands as part of the country's local custom during festivals.
"It's really delicious. Usually, I like to eat the regular ones ones with the eggshells on, but this one is good, too. The serving is not enough, we still want to eat more," said Ernie Asubrera, one of the participants.
Organisers are hoping to set a new Guinness World record for "The Largest Serving of Balut in Terms of Weight", which has never been set by any country before. The record is now under review by Guinness officials.