You read right, folks: The Times UK reports that Hans Locher of Zurich, Switzerland, is attempting to open a restaurant that includes human milk in every dish.
Isn't this just the way? Ya tell a bad joke, and some whackadoo has already thought of it, sans irony.
Where is he harvesting this bounty of Hepatitis Hazard? Why, from willing young mothers in his village, plus all who answer his sordid classifieds (which is how authorities caught onto him in the first place). The going rate for unscreened breast milk? $16 USD per liter. Cheap bastard.
And of course, Hans doesn't see anything wrong with any of this...like the cuckoo high-fructose corn syrup peeps, he takes the "What? It's all natural!" road:
"I don’t
understand all the controversy. The mother’s milk is the most natural thing
in the world – how can anyone be against it? It is, after all, the first
thing we taste and I see no reason why I should not include it in my menu,”
Mr Locher, who trained as a cook in several countries, said.
--
“The idea first came to me when I noticed that there were many young mothers
in our village, some of them single. I thought to myself: why not make use
of their potential? I served the meals to my friends without telling them
about the new ingredient and the feedback was excellent.” [said Hans.]
--
According to Rolf
Etter, of the Zurich food regulator, the lack of guidelines became an
argument in itself, as it was ruled that Mr Locher would not be able to
store the human milk properly nor guarantee that it was fresh and safe for
consumption, since the product was not a registered or regulated food....Mr Locher is now facing legal action if he proceeds with his plan of
introducing the novel recipes. His breast milk donors from the village also
risk being sued for providing the potentially dangerous product.
--
Tsk, tsk.
Still...it's hard not to be a just a little curious as to what he was planning to feed folks, huh?
He claims to have been experimenting privately with various recipes since his
daughter was born and to have perfected the use of the ingredient in his
cooking, preparing meals such as breast milk soup, breast milk lamb curry,
or antelope steak with chantarelle sauce with breast milk and cognac. In all
cases the human milk is mixed with whipped cream and makes up at least 75
per cent of the sauce.
--
Nomnum! Breast milk froyo, vichyssoise, and cottage cheese! The vaguely nauseating possibilities are ENDLESS. Cheers, Hans, for unabashedly treating your wife, neighbors, and apparently impoverished strangers as livestock.
When he gets the stuff pasteurized, then I'll be interested.
Posted by: From Behind | September 19, 2008 at 03:53 PM
As a current breast milk producer myself, I wish there were more ways to use my excess breastmilk for good such as for babies with special needs that would be assisted by some of the unique benefits of breastmilk and who don't have their own plentiful source. It kills me to have to throw out my older supply as the freezer gets full, knowing how much time, effort and money went into providing that bag of frozen breastmilk! However, I would never dream of serving it up to my friends and family, much less paying customers, relying on my compliance with FDA guidelines! This guy was crazy to think he could get away with that!
Posted by: Allison | September 19, 2008 at 03:57 PM
Human milk is the best food for babies. After the tainted formula incident in China, affluent parents will pay over RMB 10,000 per month for a wet nurse, which is 5 to 6 times the monthly pay of a white collar worker in the big cities.
Posted by: Mama | September 30, 2008 at 12:16 AM