Bytes: CULINARY MOMENTS

Monday, May 13, 2024

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If you have a sensitive stomach, better to avoid the following item.

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#1:

Not something that you would find on the Japanese TV series Iron Chef . . .

in 2012 Japanese performance artist Mao Sugiyama had his genitalia surgically removed.

As if that wasn’t strange enough, he took the bits home and cooked them, serving them to guests.

About that:

He charged guests around $250 per person to eat his severed genitalia in Tokyo, Japan.

He had initially considered eating his own penis but decided to serve them up instead.

Mao Sugiyama, 22, wearing a chef’s hat, prepares to serve up his genitals as dinner for five paying guests at a party he organised in Tokyo, Japan

In a Tweet, he offered to cook his penis for a paying guest but ultimately decided to split the ‘meal’ among six guests. He wrote on Twitter: ‘I am offering my male genitals (full penis, testes, scrotum) as a meal for 100,000 yen. I’m Japanese.

In total around 70 people attended the event in the Suginami ward of Tokyo. While five people tucked into Mao Sugiyama’s genitalia, the rest of them ate beef or crocodile.

The five people who shelled up the money included a curious couple, a male manga artist, a 22-year old woman, and an event planner. All were between the ages of 22 and 32.

Japanese authorities were notified but chose not to act, as cannibalism is not illegal in Japan.

Unfortunately for the diners, the meal was underwhelming, with some describing the penis as having a rubbery texture and bland taste.

When Managing Culinary Director of Serious Eats J. Kenji Lopez-Alt read about the less-than-satisfying entrée, he wrote to CalorieLab saying, “The chef didn’t cook it right. What a waste of a perfectly good penis! Penis is pretty tough and needs to be slow cooked, either sous-vide or in a braise.”

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#2:

San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr.

Some facts:

St Lawrence is the patron saint of cooks, brewers and vintners, butchers, bakers, confectioners, restaurateurs and more.

Due to his conspiring to hide and protect the written documents of the Church, Lawrence is also known as the patron saint of archivists and librarians.

Lorenzo’s involvement in what was considered a heretical, anti-establishment religion led to his martyrdom: on August 10 in year 258 CE (ie AD), Roman officials sentenced Lorenzo to death, as punishment for his refusal to hand over various goods and treasures he oversaw as a church deacon. He had distributed them to the poor instead.

According to Christian lore, Lorenzo was placed on a gridiron to “cook” over hot coals, a tale that accounts for the saint’s now-legendary final words: “I’m well-done on this side. Turn me over!”

While some historians dispute the accuracy of Lorenzo’s martyrdom, associations between the saint and his “death by grilling” remain strong. He is patron saint of barbecues and barbecuing, for instance, and cooks are known to invoke his protection in the kitchen, where burns by heat or fire are a very real threat. Italian kitchens commonly feature small Lorenzo statues, plaques or holy cards.