How planners can prep attendees for cultural curveballs
This was my Anthony Bourdain moment.
At the time, the early ’90s, I was a senior editor for M&C, on a fam trip in Manila — jet-lagged, overfed, and swept up in the chaos of the city’s charm. Our host had me pegged early on: the “adventurous one” in the group. It’s a label that can either earn you Michelin-star tasting menus or a boiled duck fetus handed to you on a humid sidewalk.
In this case, it was balut.
If you’ve never had the pleasure (or horror, depending on your constitution), balut is a fertilized duck egg — yes, with a semi-developed embryo inside — that’s boiled or steamed and eaten straight from the shell. It’s a beloved street food in the Philippines, and apparently, two eggs is the standard serving size. Because if you’re going to eat a baby duck, why stop at one?
He handed me the first egg with the air of a man about to witness either triumph or trauma. “One tip,” he said, with the solemnity of a seasoned war veteran. “Don’t look at it. Just pop it in and chew.”
I followed his advice like gospel. Cracked the shell, ignored the contents, and tossed it back like a shot of something suspicious. And you know what? It wasn’t half bad. The body tasted like warm, meaty chicken liver, while the beak and tiny feet crunched like pork rinds. Not something I’d seek out on a Sunday afternoon, but far from the horror show my imagination had me expecting.
Then came egg number two.
Emboldened by my victory, I let my curiosity off the leash. I peeled it slowly, theatrically. And there it was — resting in my palm like a dare from the universe: a perfectly formed, featherless, fetal duck. Tiny wings, closed eyes, a little beak. It looked peaceful. Like it had just dozed off mid-waddle.
Suddenly, the spirit of adventure deserted me. There was no way I was going to eat that duckling. Not because I was grossed out — okay, I was a little grossed out — but because this time, I looked.
And as my host said, that was my mistake.
FURTHER READING: 20 OFFSITE VENUES ATTENDEES WON’T SEE COMING
Why retell this culinary dare decades later? Because it illustrates a truth for meeting and event planners: attendees don’t all arrive with the same appetite for the unknown.
When we put cultural experiences, local delicacies, or off-site adventures on the agenda, we’re not just scheduling a meal or a tour. We’re inviting attendees to step outside their comfort zones. For some, that’s thrilling. For others, it can feel like being handed a balut with no instructions. The solution isn’t to avoid authentic experiences. Quite the opposite. Authentic, local moments are what make events memorable. The key is preparation.
Sometimes, the difference between a success story and a horror story isn’t the experience itself. It’s how ready your attendees were to embrace it.
So when you’re building an agenda, remember the balut lesson: it’s not enough to just hand someone the egg. You need to prepare them for what’s inside.
Any thoughts, opinions, or news? Please share them with me at vince@meetingsevents.com.
Photo by OpenAI’s DALL·E
