Pinoys also eat bats — NBC

Some Filipinos have also been eating bats for decades, according to a 2013 travel article of NBC News written by Aurora Almendral.

This is certainly news for the many Filipinos who have expressed disdain over the viral videos and photos of Chinese-looking people eating bat soups — a practice being blamed without scientific basis as yet for the spread of the 2019 novel-coronavirus scare.


In her article, Almendral said some people in Mayantoc, Tarlac had been bat-hunting for food.

THE bat as cooked by Jack Carbonel in the NBC News article. NBC photo by Aurora Almendral CTTO

“In Tarlac, bats, along with field rats, frogs, pythons and crickets are part of the same lowland forest food chain, and have long been part of the regional cuisine,” she wrote.


“While the idea of eating bats gives most Filipinos the creeps, in Tarlac, the opinion seems unanimous: ‘Masarap yan!’ They’re delicious, tastier than chicken.”

The piece followed bat hunter Jack Carbonel as he braved thick foliage in the mountain to hunt for the exotic food delicacies.

But while the bats in the viral videos and photos were cooked with fur and wings intact, the Tarlac bat-hunters prepare them as one would prepare chickens.


Wrote Almendral:

“Back in their simple kitchen, Carbonel slides the skinned bat carcasses into a metal bowl and begins gutting them. He rinses them inside and out, chops them up into small pieces and stews them over a wood-burning stove.

“His wife Virginia goes outside to gather guava leaves to soften the gaminess. She adds it to the stew. Once the meat is tender, Carbonel drains the liquid and sautés the bat with onions, garlic and soy sauce.


“He plates the bat meat and puts it on a small table with a bunch of tiny senorita bananas he just picked from his yard. It’s a simple spread and they nibble on the rich meat with their fingers.”

— John Henry Dodson

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This article first appeared on Daily Tribune. This article was written by John Henry Dodson.

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