"We believe that the egg would benefit the Filipino masses because it's still a cheap source of protein, cheaper than say, a kilo of galunggong," says Egg Board's Gregorio San Diego Jr., who is also the assistant vice president for operations of Rizal Poultry. He adds that the yolk is a major source of vitamins and minerals, containing five grams of fat that's good for kids with high-energy requirements.
The Egg Board was formed five years ago during the time when there was very low demand for eggs, which gravely affected small- and medium-sized egg farms. According to Arthus Baron, the Egg Board was formed to address the low demand for eggs (which went down to just 50 eggs per person per year); high feed costs, since majority of ingredients are imported; poor performance of layer stocks; lack of government support; lack of communication among egg farmers regarding standard of sizes, quality and prices, just to name a few.
So there we were, at 6:30 a.m., psyching ourselves for a whole day of touring egg farms – from chicken and duck, to quail and ostrich. Letting our imaginations run loose, we wondered how an ostrich egg cooked sunny side up would look like. Or if you could have it hard-boiled, how many people it would feed? How about the quail egg? This Lilliputian of an egg would certainly look cute cooked sunny side up. And, how do you really determine which duck egg would become balut and which one would end up as penoy?
First stop was the Gross Ostrich Farm, a two-hectare land in Tagumpay, San Leonardo in Nueva Ecija, which is home to 143 African Black, red-neck and blue-neck ostriches. Owned by German-born Michael Gross and wife Lisa, the ostrich farm was established in 1999 with the initial flock coming in from the US. A breeding farm, the Gross Ostrich Farm also sells eggs and ostrich meat to regular customers from Nueva Ecija and as far as Ilocos in the north to Masbate in the south.
The Grosses are convinced of the need for more ostrich farms in the country and swear by the health benefits of eating ostrich meat and eggs.
"Ostrich meat is low in cholesterol, and high in protein and iron. Except for the belly, the ostrich has no fat at all," says Michael Gross, who used to work for the Hyatt Regency Hotels as a chef. He holds up a newly laid ostrich egg for all to see – all 1.4 kilos of it. One ostrich egg is equivalent to 24 chicken eggs so, obviously, people are not encouraged to eat one ostrich egg a day or they'll be asking for trouble. One ostrich egg, says Lisa, when cooked as an omelet, can feed as much as 11 women, or 8 men. Hard-boiled? Don't even think about it. With its two-millimeter thick shell, boiling an ostrich egg will take you up to three-and-a-half hours, longer than cooking nilagang baka or bulalo.
Considered a red meat, the ostrich meat tastes and looks (albeit a tad darker) like beef. The Gross couple had everyone sampling tapang ostrich, and it was a pleasant experience, no unnecessary taste or texture. Lisa says ostrich meat can be cooked different ways – adobo and kaldereta, sinampalukan (for the wings and ribs) or bulalo (for the bones). One can even do it tocino-style. Ostrich heart and liver parts go straight to a deli restaurant in Manila, she adds. The gizzards are also used by Lisa's brother for his gotohan in nearby Jaen, Nueva Ecija.
At the Gross farm, a kilo of ostrich fillet costs P600, and steak is pegged at P500 (the marinated ones cost P560 a kilo).
Other ostrich by-products include eggshells and feathers, used as decorative or accent pieces in homes, and leather. The latter is quite popular for making belts, boots, wallets and bags.
The Grosses believe that ostrich oil – found in the bird's belly – has medicinal properties and is supposedly quite good in treating minor burns, arthritis and body aches. And, men listen to this: The same oil is also said to have Viagra-ic properties. Go figure.
Our curiosity with the ostrich satisfied (we won't bother you with the hatching, feeding and breeding of the ostriches), and our stomachs satiated after a hefty lunch served at a local resort, we went straight to Manny Castillo's quail farm in Baliwag, Bulacan. The whole place was clucking with activity as cages full of quails (there's a thousand quails per cage) greeted our view. A member of the Central Luzon Quailers Producer Association, Castillo has been breeding quails for several years now and seems to have found his dream business. According to him, his quails can give him an average of 800 eggs per day, or a million teeny-weenie speckled eggs a week. In fact, he says the whole of Bulacan boasts a production of more than five million quail eggs a week.
Using either the Japanese and Taiwanese breeds, Castillo also supplies meat to specialty restaurants. If you've ever tried quail adobado or prito and even ihaw, then you'll agree with us that these little creatures are very tasty indeed. Adobong pugo, dipped in soy sauce and vinegar with chili and crushed garlic, goes so well with a steaming plate of rice. Eaten during a downpour, now that's a treat. Some people like to do it papak-style though, with beer or other alcohol on the side. You know, you pinch off a piece of meat here, or pull of a wing there. It's an enjoyable way to savor the taste of quail meat, not to mention a safer way since the meat's bones are so small it's easy to choke on it. As for the eggs, Filipinos have found creative ways to cook it. Apart from hard-boiled, the eggs are also added to adobo, mechado, chop suey and other vegetable dishes, soups, and pickled as well. And yes, it's not impossible to fry these babies sunny side up and eaten with sinangag or miniature hamburger buns. It's hard work but it's fun. Though, admittedly, the eggs are somewhat high in cholesterol, having it once in a while can do no harm. Kids, especially, are encouraged to eat it as it contains a high amount of protein.
By the time the whole group visited the duck farm of Willy Uy (also in Baliwag, Bulacan), it was late afternoon and the ducks are quack-quacking non-stop amid the heavy rain. With 3,000 ducks in the farm, it wasn't easy listening to what Uy had to say about the joys and pains of duck raising. He says 80 percent of the 3,000 ducks lay eggs continuously for 10 months, and that he earns an average of P600 per day per 1,000 eggs sold. No, he's not into balut-making. The eggs from his farm, instead, are delivered to a balutan and salted eggs maker.
Asked about the difference between balut, penoy and itlog na maalat, Uy says, "You put the eggs in an incubator and after a week, the eggs are checked they are well-formed. Salted eggs, meanwhile, are eggs that didn't change in appearance even after seven days in an incubator. These are unfertilized eggs and they go straight to the salted eggs makers. On the other hand, when you see a damaged egg yolk, then these are made into penoy."
Like other breeders, Uy laments the high cost of feeds and lack of support from concerned government agencies that somehow adversely affects production. He says they don't have a cooperative that will protect them from unscrupulous middle-men and help them recover capital and earn income. "We need to buy imported feeds to be able to produce high quality eggs and these cost a lot. While we do have local feeds, most of the time these are not sufficient nutrition-wise," he adds.
According to Gregorio San Diego, the Egg Board aims to help ease such problems by regularly having activities such as the forthcoming third Philippine Egg Show on Sept. 19-21 at Megatrade Halls 2 and 3 of SM Megamall, precisely to open the eyes of people about eggs.
"The Egg Board assists its members or affiliates by publishing egg price surveys, coming out with newsletters about the layer farm industry, conducting seminars and dialogues to address local problems and increase the efficiency of our farms and cut the costs. We also want to coordinate with the government for the needs of the layer industry as well as help out in sourcing raw materials for feeds," he explains. The organization, he adds, are also trying to talk to medical practitioners and nutritionists to help them endorse the goodness of egg consumption.
"Staging these egg shows for the past three years has created awareness and generated interest about eggs. Hopefully, we can sustain this with several activities as well as broadsheet placements, radio ads and TV guestings or endorsements," says San Diego. "Anything cheap and free, kasi wala kaming pera. The Egg Board is a non-profit organization so it does not have the resources to finance any advertising campaigns. But we know we have to reach out if we want to correct the misimpressions."
Based on research, the Philippines has a per capita consumption of 50-55 eggs per year, lower than China which has a 300 eggs per year capita consumption, and Thailand, which has 130 eggs per year capita consumption.
As far as egg proponents are concerned, the egg has taken quite a beating in recent years in the country. Perhaps, it's time to resurrect that catchy TV ad of long ago, "Ang Itlog, Bow!" and maybe it would get nature's miracle food back to every Filipino family's dining table.