Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Crawling with Uok!

One of my favorite TV shows is Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. This guy travels the world looking for the most bizarre foods available in the planet with a byline “If it looks good, eat it.” And he does it all the time - even on foods most people won’t even look at.

In an episode to the beautiful islands of the Philippines, Andrew visited the Balaw-Balaw restaurant in Angono, Rizal, a province in the Philippines. The restaurant is known for its exquisite recipes handed down from generations past, as well as featuring some of the great works of art Angono is known for.


In this episode, Andrew had his first taste of the Uok cooked adobo-style. Although he really didn’t like it that much because of the texture, he says in the show that he likes food served this way because:

“Making traditional items available to today’s diner make us all closer to our past and reconnects us to our food source.”
- Andrew Zimmern




Uok is the Oryctes rhinoceros larva of the coconut rhinoceros beetle. These beetles thrive in fallen coconut trees and decomposing organic matter, where people forage to look for these delicacies. Indigenous tribes used to eat these worms raw, but it can also be cooked in a variety of ways. The Uok is almost 80% rich in protein, more than the amount that cattle beef has if measured with the same volume. In a study conducted by the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria, Uok is good for children because it is rich in arginine, which is needed for proper growth. It has good protein and unsaturated fat, which is safe for people with cholesterol or heart problems.


So, the next time you head out to the Philippines, or visiting this island nation for the first time, be sure to pass through Balaw-Balaw restaurant and feast yourself with the Adobong Uok and other Filipino culinary delicacies.



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Peter Allan C. Mariano

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