Turtle eggs are considered to be very nutritious and purportedly
have a lot of health benefits. Unfortunately, they happen to be illegal
due to the wildlife preservation enactments to prevent rampant poaching
of turtle eggs (which is a protected species) in Malaysia. However, I
managed to hook up with someone who sells turtle eggs through a
coworker.
The transaction was very covert, which I found amusing – the turtle
egg seller called to tell us where he is and we got him to deliver it
to the office. He was an overweight slightly grimy looking man carrying
one of those tote bags with probably 100 turtle eggs inside (and also
some porn VCD’s on the sides). I bought 10 turtle eggs off him for RM
15 (it’s RM 1.50 per turtle egg). The turtle eggs are still sandy from
the beach and each one is about the size of a ping pong ball.
I don’t know how to cook turtle eggs, so we brought it downstairs to
solicit the help of Kakak (literally “Sister” in Malay) who works
downstairs. She told us that it can either be eaten raw, or heated lightly (emphasis on lightly) with boiled water. Thus, we set the wok (there’s a kitchen downstairs, sorta) on boil with some water.
The turtle eggs are washed by putting them under running water to
get rid of the sand. The interesting thing about turtle eggs is that
they’re very pliable – it’s so soft that pressing on it will
make indentation marks (as can be seen in the first two photos). The
turtle eggs in their natural configuration also has that property –
surrounding eggs impact each turtle egg by forming recessions around
each other.
The turtle eggs were then put into the water for a short (less than a minute) amount of time and left to simmer for a bit.
I also got Kakak to pose for a photo beside the cooking wok with the turtle eggs in it. 😉
This is what the slightly heated turtle eggs look like. The eggs are
soft and slightly translucent, so that you can see the yolk inside.
You can eat the turtle eggs by opening up the shell (it’s so soft,
it’s almost like peeling instead of opening) and eating it as it is. It
tastes surprisingly good…it doesn’t need any flavoring for the turtle
egg taste to shine through. Unlike other eggs, turtle eggs have a
distinct musky aftertaste to it.
However, I’m told that the proper way to enjoy turtle eggs is too peel off a small hole at the top…
…and put a drop of soy sauce inside to flavor it, before sucking the whole egg contents.
This method of consumption is more visceral and much more enjoyable. 🙂
this is sick why did you eat those eggs? you shouldn’t have bought them and this behaviour encourages the taking of these eggs which are so endangered, your completely stupid
nono: Hmm…do you have any other adjectives to support your statement other than very vague ones like “sick” and “stupid”? 😉
Where is thy taste of adventure?
The demand-supply argument is flawed, just as it was in the “War Against Drugs”. No supply = no demand? No demand = no supply?
That might have worked in Economics 101 but it sure as hell doesn’t work in real life. 🙂
You disgust me. You speak of eating -and cooking- turtle eggs as though you couldn’t care less for the endangered species. It’s vile, and it’s cruel. Only about one out of every hundred eggs survive to adulthood, and brainless, empty-headed morons like you aren’t helping at all on this. ‘Where is thy taste of adventure?’, he says. How dare you call the illegal consumption of turtle eggs an adventure? How dare you call the protection of sea turtles and their eggs ‘unfortunate’!? Imagine a fat, low-life person cooking your child lightly (emphasis on lightly) eating your unborn child. That’s the equivalent of what you, sir, are doing. Although I highly doubt anyone would ever procreate with you. It’s wrong. You’re wrong.
You PETA/Sea Shepard types are all alike. 🙂
Slightly racist and unable to rationalize and see other view points besides your group’s own.
Although I doubt you’re all that old since you need to resort to personal attacks (why does the hypothetical person cooking my unborn child need to be fat in the scenario? and btw, I’m in a very happy relationship and have two kids).
Get some perspective Winona, life ain’t as black and white as you want it to be.
This was something I wrote nearly 10 years ago – the experience was special to me so I wanted to document it and remember it. I’ve never had turtle eggs since (not that I feel the need to justify my actions to you – it’s just a plain fact that it’s not everyday food here and the choices that I make will obviously be different as I grow older). It’s worth noting that I’m now 34 and not 23, the age I wrote this entry at.
You can’t push your cultural expectations to other people, I don’t do that to you – to quote the classic example, Hindus rever cows and yet a lot of people eat beef but that doesn’t make them all evangelical and trying to make it their personal crusade to stop others from eating beef, they just accept that not everyone shares their convictions.
what kind of turtle eggs where they. We have common snapping turtles but thats it. Wondering if they can be eaten.
It’s leatherback turtle eggs! 🙂
They only come in once a year to lay their eggs. This was written *a long time ago* though, almost 10 years ago so I don’t know if they’re so easily available nowadays.
You know what I’m with you admin I’m eating some now for taste and you’re right pig and cows get torture and ppl eat them with no problem why is it so bad that once we try something not like an every day thing that girls nuts
i hope the same ones crying about eating the turtle eggs are also contacting their politicians and crying about oil drilling in our oceans poisoning all creatures in the ocean!
Fuck the haters…turtle eggs are delicious….eat in moderation if u can find any…
It’s a false analogy to compare this to eating beef or pork, no matter how badly industrialized farming is (which I completely agree – it is bad).
The difference is that pigs and cows aren’t endangered. Leatherback turtles are. You don’t have to be a member of PETA member to understand we should lessen human impact on endangered animals. Harvesting and eating the eggs of an endangered animal isn’t the same as eating a steak – it’s the same as killing a white rhino AND that rhino’s babies, essentially killing off future generations of that animal.
I’m glad to hear this was a one-time thing for you, something you did at a younger age. It might be nice if you update this entry, though, with a link or two encouraging people to *conserve* these beautiful animals – not just *consume* them.
Thanks for your comments Felicity!
Hmm…I would think it’s more like killing some the rhino’s babies (but not the rhino) since the turtle in this case (presumably) was still alive. You have very valid points though, and I respect your beliefs.
I don’t update past articles with disclaimers or addendum since I like to keep them as it is, preserve the integrity of the original post and the spirit in which it was written.
It’s like how some literature and comic books have disclaimers saying “This is a product of the age” (or something to that effect, to justify certain derogatory things about black people) – I personally don’t think it’s necessary since if I read an Archie comic from back in the days which has racial stereotypes I would look at the date and see that it was a product of the age, like Yellow Peril or Reefer Madness was. 🙂
I remember turtle being on the menu (as in turtle meat) in the 80’s and early 90’s as well as turtle eggs, but not anymore.
I definitely want to try turtle eggs but, I agree, they should be eaten in moderation. Because turtles and tortoises may hold some answers to longevity which modern science has not progressed enough to understand, it is important that we preserve these precious animals for their own sake and possibly ours. Fun article.