Japanese illustrator Mao Sugiyama had his genitals removed on his birthday, March 31. A couple of weeks later, he served those genitals -- scrotum, testicles and penis -- at a special dinner where six "lucky" individuals paid the equivalent of $250 to consume them.
Sugiyama advertised this unique meal via Twitter, where he described the goods in detail, an initial asking price of 100,000 Yen ($1,255), and certification that he has been cleared of all venereal diseases. This spawned enough interest that he organized an April 13 event aptly named "Ham Cybele -- Century Banquet". Cybele, as he explained in the event description, is a reference to the Anatolian goddess of the same name whose adherents offered up a bull's testes to the goddess.
CalorieLab, reporting from the now removed blog post of the event organizer, Shigenobu Matsuzawa., says that Sugiyama did the seasoning and cooking in front of his guests.
Apparently, it wasn't very good. Matsuzawa described the penis as being fork bendingly chewy and the testicles as being not only chewy but also possessing a gamey taste. Despite this, Sugiyama is planning on making the recipe (which he developed using chunks of beef) available online at some point.
Sugiyama is a self-described asexual who elected to have his genitals removed to conform to his desired androgynous "smoothie" body image. Prior to his elective genital removal surgery, he also had his nipples removed.Following his ongoing Twitter feed, it appears that, nearly two months after the procedure he has few if any regrets and is enjoying the publicity.
No charges have been filed, due in part because Japan possesses no laws banning cannibalism. That makes sense given the Japanese propensity for serving placenta and placenta-flavored drinks. Hopefully this doesn't cause a surge in destination eating tourism.
All right, we know some of you are here for the photo evidence. A picture of the frozen goods as well as a link to the more thorough CalorieLab article after the jump:
Here's the original CalorieLab story. Clear photos of Sugiyama thinly slicing his penis contained within.
