National Geographic listed it as the most difficult food to eat ( I guess this is just for the food that you can legally eat).  Balut is a duck embryo boiled  a day just before it hatches.  If you are watching Fear Factor then you must have seen one already and seen the effect it gives to its new eater.

It maybe very difficult to eat to many but in Philippines and some other parts of South East Asia this is something you enjoy with salt.  Well, some people prefer to eat balut in the dark for obvious reason.  Balut is very common in Philippines that you can see it in bus stations 24 hours a day, in most wet markets during the day, and at night you can hear walking vendors shouting 'Baluuuut' while carrying a woven basket full of baluts.

On my first job in Quezon City, we used to have lots of foreign guests during  the annual metal working machine trade fair and in one of the nights we gather all of them for a customary dinner.  After the dinner, light will be dimmed and balut will be served.  Now as hosts, we never discuss with  our guest what balut was, how it looks like and how gross it could be.  But for the guests who had endured (and survived) the experience the previous year it is a different story.  They would taunt and make faces to the first timers thus making it more difficult for them to eat.

Balut is one of the identities of Philippines, eating it is a culture and to some a livelihood.  One British Blogger had even claimed that he can already apply for a philippine passport after eating Balut.

Balut is Delicious, I dont mind eating in daytime when I can see the small duck, its slimy coating and the deep red veins.

Be brave! try it and conquer your FEAR!