Poll Question:

Would you eat placenta and rutabaga stew?

The highlands people of the Andes traditionally bury the placenta after birth. But ... placenta is not 'killed' meat. And it is quite edible and full of nutrients. Many animals eat their own placenta.

So why rutabaga? Well the big old Swedish yellow turnip (kålrot) needs more respect. However, to eat a rutabaga root, you have to 'kill' it.

Rutabaga: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga

And therein lies a quandary (or an article/essay if I wrote such things!). According to 'ahimsa', as practiced by the Jains, one does not kill. Most of you have probably seen photos of people with gauze over their month so that insects are not mistakenly inhaled. So ... eating rutabaga root would not be allowed (turnip greens fine, but not the root). But would placenta be okay?

On the other hand, many cultures are very specific on the handling of the placenta. There are rituals to be observed. But Americans seem to love to eat and in the days of 'waste not, want not' of thirty years ago some American magazines had articles with recipes for placenta.

One such recipe for placenta and rutabaga stew (my modification; I replaced the zucchini) I found at Wikipedia:

Ingredients:
3/4 fresh human placenta
1 potato
4 tablespoons fresh parsley
2 carrots
3 celery
1/2 rutabaga
1 tomato
1 onion

Procedure:
Chop up the ingredients.
Roll the placenta in a mix of one tablespoon flour, on teaspoon salt, a half teaspoon powdered paprika, some ground clove, some ground pepper and 6-8 coriander seeds.
Sautée the placenta in two tablespoons oil, pour in the vegetables and about a liter/quart of water.
Allow to boil and then let simmer for an hour.

For a Down Under recipe: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Spicy_Australian_Placenta
A link about the placenta: http://www.geocities.com/virtualbirth/placenta.html

So would you eat placenta and rutabaga stew?

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