Pong Thea Koun | Balut

Pong Thea Koun more famously known as Balut: Nature’s richest broth inside a fertilized egg 🥚

In many cultures, it’s eaten with sasawan (Filipino spiced vinegar) but in our family, we eat it with pinch of salt, a shake of black pepper and a squeeze of lime. 🍋‍🟩🤤 As a kid, the choice was basically, “Just eat it! And don’t ask questions!” SOOO I did what I was told 🤷🏻‍♀️ and man, I was instantly hooked. To me, it was totally normal, comforting even, and definitely a treat when we got our hands on some!

In the summer, our family would pile into my Auntie’s van, pack our Playmate Igloo cooler (IYKYK) with nompang (bread), some meat and make the eight hour drive from Norwalk to Stockton to visit the rest of our family ..our other Grandma, Grandpa, Aunties, Uncles, and then there were other aunties and uncles who were actually my age but felt like cousins, but technically weren’t 🤣 (Hi, Grandma Stockton 👋🏽💕).

I can still see us gathered in their living room, sitting cross-legged on a kathal (a woven straw mat, a banig) forming a loose circle around a giant steamer filled to the brim with Pong Thea Koun. We’d tap the tops of our eggs with the backs of our tiny spoons, peel them open, sprinkle in our homemade salt, pepper, lime mix, then just eat them right up, laughing and talking over each other.

I don’t know why, but this has always been a core memory of mine. That’s what balut tastes like to me, Summer in Stockton 💛

Royal Gold · Rubber Backing · 1.25”