I once, when I was younger, bit into a hard boiled egg my grandfather had made me for breakfast, and found something hard in the center. When I looked, I couldn't figure out what it was, so I pulled it, slowly, from inside the shell. It was a beak. There was a darker reddish brown spot behind it... veiny looking.

Several years passed before I was able to eat eggs again, and even longer before I could anything other than sunny side up eggs that I could clearly see the inside of the yolk on.

When I saw this task, I immediately knew what I needed to eat: balut.

For people who are unfamiliar with balut, it is fertilized duck egg... crack the shell... and instead of runny white and yellow... you've got the duck version of the space baby from 2001. And then you eat it.

I opted to do this task months and months ago, but was totally unable to bring myself to do it. So I told my friends... and this past January 16th, on my 35th birthday, a friend of mine named Roxy came through: at the stroke of midnight, I'd crack an egg, and I would eat balut.

I was orthogonal from sober when it happened, in a state to "heighten" my awareness of how disgusting the texture and sight was, but not one that would dampen down the taste or smell. I cracked the shell, peeled it, and then set the contents down on a plate. My guests, gathered around me to watch, were sufficiently disgusted by the sight and smell of thing... except for my Korean friend Lisa, who apparently is capable of eating anything.

I forced myself to put in my mouth... all at once. I didn't think I could bring myself to take bites.

The taste was unpleasant, like a mix of undercooked poultry, old egg, and something powdery I couldn't put a finger on. But it was the texture that really got to me: rubbery in parts, soft and gelid in others, and then worst of all, a sort of undifferentiated tissue gristlyness I couldn't seem to chew up. I chewed, and chewed, and gagged, and chewed, and then finally, 80 or 90 seconds later, I managed to grind it up enough to choke it down.

Even managed to keep it there.

It is amazing the kinds of new experiences SF0 can open up for you.