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the cookbook you don’t want your chef to use

Dec 28, 2008 bizarre findings, food and drink

As a writer, I get inundated with press releases for just about everything. But even with this onslaught of regular information, I still have to stop once in a while and say “you’ve got to be kidding me.”  Or words to that effect.

This is one of those times.

I received a note to check out a book on lulu.com that features recipes using an unusual ingredient. I think the cover speaks for itself:

I flipped through the page reader on the site, to see if this was a serious book or one meant as a joke. It appears to be presented as a real cookbook, complete with color photos of the “finished” dish.

So once I got past the “ewwwww,”  “ick” and “oh hell no!!!” reactions, my first thoughts were these:

• What about the health concerns? STDs? Other diseases that can be spread via body fluids?
• Who would actually intentionally eat food containing sperm? I mean, there are people who eat foods like Rocky Mountain oysters (bull testicles), but would even Andrew Zimmerman (of TV’s “Bizarre Foods” fame) balk at this ingredient?
• Why would someone create a whole cookbook around sperm…and who did the taste tests for the book? “Wanna come over and help me with my recipe book about semen?”
• Am I the only one who can see the opportunities for nasty pranks on people with these recipes? “Hey, how are you enjoying the dipping sauce? Wait until I tell you the secret ingredient…”
• Speaking of “secret ingredients”…is this the one you’ll never see used on Iron Chef America?

I’m curious as to what y’all think. Would you ever use a cookbook like this or consent to eat a dish prepared from it?

Interestingly, the recommendation area of the page says that people who bought this cookbook also bought “Cooking with a Serial Killer.”  Another round of “ewww,” anyone?

Tags: bizarre food, cookbooks, ewwww