Are Catholics allowed to eat balut (boiled duck embryo) on Fridays during Lent?

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There’s a big difference between ending the life of a human infant and ending the life of a duck. That said, I would imagine, it’d vary by diocese and bishop. I’m not Filipino, so I haven’t got much insight into it.
 
You would have to check with your local bishop. Foods that some people would consider meat are approved in at least some locations on Lenten Fridays. For example, see

www.firstthings.com

Ten Weird, Wonderful Foods for Lent | Matthew Schmitz

1. Muskrat Catholics living south of Detroit enjoy a longstanding informal dispensation to eat . . . .
www.firstthings.com www.firstthings.com
 
Interesting. I tried searching the internet but I was unable to find any official statements. One would think that this question has been answered by now.

It varies by diocese and bishop? Ok, but has this question ever been answered by any Catholic bishop/diocese?

Just to clarify: I’m not trying to compare abortion with eating balut. I know that they are very different. But if the Catholic Church is going to argue that life begins at conception, then I don’t see how a boiled duck embryo can be considered anything other than “meat”
 
Interesting. This is now making me think of a story I heard at a seminary over the summer. Here is how it goes:

There were three nuns in a room in a convent.

One of them was weaving a new curtain for the altar, another was baking the communion wafers, and yet another was preparing the incense for the censers.

One nun said to the other, “Sister, do you know why the Archbishop eats meat on Wednesdays and Fridays when we are not allowed to?”

The other nun replied, “Well, Sister, maybe we are allowed to. Let’s go and ask him!”

So they decided to approach the Archbishop with their question.

They asked “Father, may we eat meat on Wednesdays and Fridays?”

He said “No.”

They replied, “May we eat lamb on Wednesdays and Fridays?”

He answered “No.”

Then they questioned, “May we eat beef on Wednesdays and Fridays?”

He replied “No.”

Then they said “May we at least eat a little steak with our eggs on Wednesdays and Fridays?”

Again, his reply was “No.”

So finally, they asked him “Why then, Father, do you eat all of these things on Wednesdays and Fridays?”

This time, his answer was “Because I never ask anyone. You are asking me, so I am telling you the rules of the Church.”
 
The point is not whether duck embryos are meat. The point is that fasting and abstinence rules sometimes allow for certain foods to be eaten in an area where people are limited in what they can eat. The “no meat” rules assume a society where people had enough other food choices that they could be abstinent and still have something to eat. As the church has expanded around the world, there are societies where fish or peanut butter might not be available and the dietary rules tend to be adapted by the bishops to create something that works for the local populace.

We frankly don’t care when “life” begins for animals, as they don’t have souls and it is not sinful to kill an animal, including one in the womb, for a human to eat, as long as it’s done in a reasonably humane and good stewardship manner.
 
7MessRobHackOpen said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(food)

Catholics believe that life begins at conception, right? So do they believe that a boiled duck embryo is “meat” and thus forbidden to eat on Fridays during Lent? Just curious.
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My guess is that since the original idea was not to eat red blooded land animals, that balut is in the category of meat. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, (cold-blooded animals) and shellfish are permitted in the Latin church abstinence.
 
Warm blooded animals = not allowed during abstinence days.

Cold blooded animals = allowed during abstinence days.
 
There have been occasional exceptions to this rule set by bishops over the centuries for the reasons I stated above. I believe in certain areas for example the dugong, a mammal, was considered okay to eat for a while. It was a much bigger problem when abstinence was mandatory every Friday and not just in Lent.
 
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But is it really that simple? For example, I have read that Catholics are allowed to eat chicken broth on fasting days, but not chicken meat. Is this just because they consider the amount of chicken in chicken broth negligible?

Likewise, I am wondering if they consider the amount of duck meat in a fertilized duck egg negligible.
 
Catholics in Michigan were allowed to eat muskrat 150 years ago. Apparently when asked the bishop said if people could stand to eat muskrat they could eat it during Lent.
At least that is the story I have been told.
 
Thank you for clarification everybody 🙂

Maybe the OP should just order a pizza 😆
 
Mi_Rose said:
Apparently when asked the bishop said if people could stand to eat muskrat they could eat it during Lent.
At least that is the story I have been told.
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I’d honestly rather just eat bread, but then again I don’t have to get up, carry water from a stream, chop wood all day, plow a field, milk the cow, slap the laundry on a flat rock and generally be on my feet all day. Maybe that muskrat would look pretty good after all.
 
adamhovey1988 said:
I’m not Filipino, so I haven’t got much insight into it.
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I am Filipina, but I haven’t got much insight into it either. Balut and I have been in the same room maybe five times in my nearly 50-year life.
7MessRobHackOpen said:
But is it really that simple? For example, I have read that Catholics are allowed to eat chicken broth on fasting days, but not chicken meat. Is this just because they consider the amount of chicken in chicken broth negligible?

Likewise, I am wondering if they consider the amount of duck meat in a fertilized duck egg negligible.
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The amount of chicken meat in most chicken broth is zero. Similarly, drinking a cup of coffee isn’t the same as eating the grounds used to brew it.

Personally, I would consider balut to be meat. Duck eggs take about 28 days to hatch. The balut I’ve seen was incubated for around 21 days and the embryo was sufficiently developed that it was visibly recognizable as a duck (beak, feathers, etc.) So on a Friday, I’d pass if other options were available. Whether or not any bishop has declared balut okay to consume on abstinence Fridays, I don’t know. If so, then anyone in his diocese would be permitted to eat it on those days.
 
Mi_Rose said:
Catholics in Michigan were allowed to eat muskrat 150 years ago. Apparently when asked the bishop said if people could stand to eat muskrat they could eat it during Lent.
At least that is the story I have been told.
Click to expand...
Hey that’s no fair. :sniff:
 
If the “life begins at conception” rule meant that balut is banned, it would necessarily also mean that eggs are banned.
 
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Not an expert, and no documentation really to found my opinion on (lol), but I would allow the penoy version (the no embryo version) as opposed to the real live genuine balot with the duck in it. The egg is ok but the chicken is not logic running here.
 
No. Most eggs bought in a store, and a majority from “back yard” hen houses, are not fertilized. If there is no rooster, no egg is fertilized. Roosters are not necessary formwgg production. “Farm fresh” eggs are more likely to be fertilized and even most of those are not.
 
I’ve never heard of no-embryo balut and have always understood the presence of an embryo to be necessary for balut. 🤔
 
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