Extreme(ly Stupid) Cuisine

I came across this video link a couple of days ago on my msn homepage.  ‘Extreme Cuisine’ was the video’s description, and the image displayed a woman holding a large spider ‘kebab’.  I had to link through to see what the video entailed. 

Well, as I suspected, it was ridiculous and disturbing.  First, this clip from the Annual Gala of The Explorers Club was so far out that it could have been mistaken as an SNL skit.  Viewing the piece, all I could think was “these people are so overindulged”.   How bored and overstimulated are they that food has to reach such a pathetic extreme as eating poached eyeballs, meal worm puff pastry, and testicles?  How desperately do they need to feel important and ‘catered to’?  Apparently, bored and desperate enough to eat deep-fried tarantulas and cow eyeballs to stimulate their deadened (pun intended) palate. 

An argument could be made that “hey, at least they are using all the parts of the animals (ex: eyeballs, testicles)” and so that eating the whole animal is better than just eating parts.  However, these folks are not slaughtering the animal themselves to feed their family.  They are not butchering and returning home with the parts of said animal.  No, if they had to butcher the eyes and testicles from an animal, I doubt they’d find this experience quite as enticing.  This is simply a form of entertainment for the otherwise bored or unimaginative… or for those seeking a sense of importance, and eating ‘exotic’ animals or parts of animals helps them feel just a little bit bigger in their overpriced shoes.

The ‘extreme chef’ featured in the video appears entirely unaffected by playing with live organisms, making “pretzels” out of worms,  soaking tarantulas in brandy, and transforming creatures into “perfect edible masterpieces”.   Listen, I’m not on a mission to save every bug on the planet.  But, I don’t support rounding them up out of their habitats to ‘marinate, skewer, and batter’.   I watch in disbelief at how warped some have become about eating.    But, apparently alligator claws are ”succulent”. 

The extreme chef was pleased with the success of the evening, saying that “the whole idea was to bring smiles to people’s faces”.   How many of us are smiling after watching that video?