Food site’s users rank balut as Southeast Asia’s worst dish, lumpia the best
By Ryan General
A community-sourced ranking of some of the most well-known Southeast Asian dishes has dubbed Filipino street food balut as the region’s worst-rated food.
On Monday, online travel guide TasteAtlas posted a ranking of the top- and worst-rated food from Southeast Asia. Balut, which is widely consumed in many parts of Southeast Asia outside the Philippines, including Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, received the site’s lowest rating with 2.7 out of 5 stars. TasteAtlas noted that the ratings are based on the reviews of the website’s readers.
In Western media, balut has gained notoriety as an “exotic” food, having become a staple in “food challenges” where participants are shown being grossed out while consuming it.
Meanwhile, two Filipino dishes took the top spots of the ranking with lumpiang Shanghai (a Filipino version of spring rolls) and tortang talong (eggplant omelet) both having received a rating of 4.8.
Taste Atlas considers lumpiang Shanghai as “the most popular variety of lumpia, the crispy deep-fried Filipino snack that evolved from Chinese spring rolls.” The site described tortang talong as “a simple Filipino dish made with a combination of roasted eggplants and lightly beaten eggs.” Both dishes are often served with a sweet and sour sauce and consumed with steamed rice.
Indonesia’s bubur ayam (rice porridge with chicken) took third place with a rating of 4.7. Joining balut at the bottom of the ranking are Indonesia’s acar, with 3.2 stars, and Cambodia’s steamed curried fish, with 3.3 stars.
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