Thursday, April 26, 2007

Pickled Placenta

I recently read on a blog about a woman who has her placenta in her freezer. Intrigued by this, I decided to research the topic a bit more. I learned that some people actually eat the placenta, a practice called placentophagia. It's not a common practice in the western world, but there's a slew of recipes on the internet to help you know how to prepare the ephemeral organ. There's Placenta Cocktail (a V8 type drink), Placenta Lasagna, Placenta Pizza, Roasted Placenta, Placenta Spaghetti Bolognaise, Placenta Stew and even Dehydrated Placenta (like beef jerky.) Now I don't know if this woman plans on feeding it to her kid on his first birthday like the top of a wedding cake because it is also common to ceremonially plant it with a tree. Nevertheless, how have I never heard of placentophagia? Apparently even Tom Cruise knew about it. Do you know how many good placentas I've wasted? Five to be exact. How come the hospital staff insists on discarding the placenta in a sterile metal bucket to be whisked away to some undisclosed placenta receptacle? There is probably a secret doctor conspiracy to make the placenta seem ugly and disgusting and if you open the door on the maternity floor that says "Employees Only" you would find a bunch of doctors and nurses feasting on placenta. At the very least they could show it to me and let me touch it. Next time I will put "large empty pickle jar" on my Things to Take to the Hospital List.

Pickled Placenta anyone?

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