So, I'm reading this book called Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. I just got to the section on human mellification (basically, bodily preservation--- a form of mummification if you will) and in it is recipes more or less. The chapter is appropriately named, Eat Me.

So what do I do? Grab a handful of grape tomatoes to munch on. Sorry, it made me hungry.

Betsy

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Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell

PS...it is a hilariously funny book. I heard an interview with the author, Mary Roach, last week on NPR. Since I had a B&N gift card just waiting to be used, I went and ordered it.

The most fun though was engaging with the author via email which started with a question about my clavical bone which came from a dead person and transformed into a great discussion about intersex. She's a great writer and I'm hoping the discussion will result in a magazine article or something. She is the one who brought up doing an article after the discussion---I only wanted to know where my collarbone came from!

Betsy

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Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell

Betsy's quote:

So what do I do? Grab a handful of grape tomatoes to munch on. Sorry, it made me hungry.

that's not so bad........what if you had been eating spaghetti, with lots of chunky tomato sauce

(a bit of "hospital" humor:D .... I used to like eating liverwurst/strawberry jam sandwiches ....didn't matter if after or before tending to the "yuckies" of hospital wards, even ER:p

;)

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Andy Dufresne (from the movie Shawshank Redemption): "It's my life. Don't you understand? IT'S MY LIFE!'

Dana,

Thanks for the inside scope on hospital eating habits. The next time I visit a hospital cafeteria, I will remember to order a liverwurst\strawberry jam sandwich.

Betsy,

Interesting. The inner ear bones in my left ear come from a shark, and were carved for medical use. I wonder how many people at BLO have bodies with parts that are not ours.

Peter

Well, the part of the book was discussing mummified penises....ground up and eaten to cure erectile dysfunction.

Betsy

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Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell

Oh, Peter!.....I made my own liverwurst-jam sandwiches (preferably dark bread!) and peanut butter/banana sandwiches (on white bread) were yummy too.....and I wasn't pregnant either ........and if I had been or ever would be I will never eat ground up "Schwanzes"......only fresh whole "food" (unprocessed) for me ;).....and surely not for erectile dysfunction (at least not for me:p )

:D

__________________
Andy Dufresne (from the movie Shawshank Redemption): "It's my life. Don't you understand? IT'S MY LIFE!'

It certainly wasn't a bad thing. I held the bone while they anthetisized (sp?) me so I guess I can say I bonded with it. All in all, it was rather like a piece of bone...kind of like the kind you would take out of a pot of soup. Still, sometimes when I start thinking about it, I wonder about the person it came from.

I'm not sure if the feelings would be the same if if was a shark. I think I would be too afraid it would bite me.

betsy

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Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell

No animal-origin parts for me....mine are all high-quality stainless steel lifetime guaranteed ( 9 screws of different sizes and a "plate" in my left leg and foot )....."cyber-parts"

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Andy Dufresne (from the movie Shawshank Redemption): "It's my life. Don't you understand? IT'S MY LIFE!'

I work in the dental industry where dentists (Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Periodontists) routinely use bone particles or bone chunks from donors to grow new bone. These products are harvested (that's the industry term) from cadavers, processed for biological safety, and made available to dentists for grafing purposes. Bone particles are put into bone defects and act like fertilizer to stimulate the surrounding host bone to regenerate and fill in the defect. As the new bone grows, the grafted bone particles dissolve.

Bone chunks are attached to the host bone with screws until they heal, then the screws are removed and the gaft functions like a splint to strengthen the host bone and increase its volume. Eventually the grafted bone chunk merges with the host bone and becomes one with it ... like a grafted trunk on a rose bush or fruit tree.

Sometimes cow bone is also used, but it doesn't work as well as transplanted donor bone from humans, and those who receive it develop an overwhelming desire to chew their cud (I just made up the last part!). The best bone for grafting, however, is bone transplanted from one location to another within one's own body, because, unlike donor bone, it contains all of the genetic materials that stimulate bone growth and there is no risk of disease tranmission.

Obtaining, processing and selling donor bone is a HUGE international business! The company where I work obtains donor bone from Germany, which was placed in my jaw during dental surgery. I works amazingly well, although I still can't speak a word of German...

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Mike W