WHEN Tom Cruise announced his intention to eat his wife’s placenta, there was a media frenzy. The average placenta weighs a sizeable half-a-kilo plus, and apparently it tastes like veal.
A quick Google yields a number of recipes, including placental lasagne, meat loaf, even a placental smoothie. It is in demand with vegetarians, for whom it is a rare opportunity to eat meat that does not involve slaughter of any kind. There is even talk of a miraculous skin cream derived from placental extracts.
Perhaps this recent publicity is why the collection of placental samples for research has become fraught…
