When Japanese artist Mao Sugiyama announced that he’d served up his severed and sauteed ‘nads to paying diners, the second shocker was that there are no laws against cannibalism in Japan. And, apparently, there are few, if any, laws against cannibalism…well…anywhere. There apparently are no formal laws in the United States regarding cannibalism, but if you killed your neighbor and threw him on the barbeque, you’d at least be arrested for murder and desecration of a corpse. Similarly in Canada and most other countries; however, the British outlawed cannibalism in the early 19th century.
And then there’s Germany. Take the case of one Armin Miewes, who, in 2001, placed an online ad (through the aptly named Cannibal Cafe) for someone to join him for dinner…as his dinner. Before you can say, “No f**king way would anyone want to be butchered and eaten!,” some poor schlub actually answered the ad. Bernd Brandes signed an agreement with Miewes to be on the menu. Miewes set a kind of precedent with his grisly document, a kind of ‘consent to cannibalism’, which had German prosecutors’ heads spinning on how to convict him:
In the United States, the victim’s consent is no defense to murder, and it would be easy to prosecute an American counterpart to Meiwes. But in Germany, the victim’s consent renders the crime a “killing on request” — that is, an instance of illegal euthanasia. Unfortunately, this offense is punishable by a very modest sentence of from six months to five years of incarceration.
Miewes was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2004, but fortunately a successful retrial in 2006 got him life imprisonment…and, hopefully no access to carving knives and the prison kitchen.
Back to Mao Sugiyama, who had his genitals surgically removed, frozen for two months afterward, then served up with mushrooms and parsley garnish for $250 per plate (to help defray hospital costs for removal of the organs). Sugiyama’s severed bits were inspected and determined free of infection (yeah, no one wants a pinch of venereal disease with their meal), prepared under the supervision of a ‘certified cook’ because Chef Mao wanted to cook his own junk. Sugiyama also required the diners to sign a waiver indemnifying Sugiyama and event organizers. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when he met with his attorneys… Anyway, Sugiyama has received tweets from people wanting to know if he will be serving…um…leftovers soon. Mao tweeted, “I receive questions from some women and men… asking ‘Will there be a next time? Please host it again.’ But there is only one set of male organ, Unfortunately, I have no plan for the next time.” Well, yeah. Unless he’s a hermaphrodite with bits to spare.
Anyway. Whatever you do, DO NOT Google the images.