Eat a Condom, Fight AIDS

Photo courtesy of lifestyleasia.com

It's actually an entirely edible, fake condom on faux sand. And it's the brainchild of "Demon Chef" Alvin Leung of Bo Innovation, who created the presentation at Identita Golose, a yearly culinary convention and trade show in Milan.

Hong Kong-based restaurant Bo Innovation and Chef Leung are probably more well known to American audiences from an appearance on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, but both restaurant and chef are world-renowned for incredibly innovative and often futuristic dishes that take months to perfect and verge on high art.

However, it looks as if Chef Leung is about to be known for something even more befitting his rock-and-roll persona: the edible condom, which he's coined "Sex on the Beach."

According to Lifestyle Asia, which first reported on the dish, Leung created it to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. And absolutely everything, including the "sand" on the plate, is edible:

This unique dish features a sweet edible condom, made by dipping a cigar tube into a kappa and konjac mixture. Using a pipette, Alvin then squeezed a few drops of a honey and Yunnan ham mixture. The 'condom' was then placed onto powdered shiitake mushrooms, made to look like sand.

Sadly, this work of art -- and I do believe it's art in every thought-provoking sense of the word -- is only available in Hong Kong, where it costs a mere $68 HKD (that's only about $9 USD). The proceeds from the dish will go toward AIDS Concern in Hong Kong, leading me to ask the question: If an American chef were to recreate Leung's dish, would you eat it? Especially considering the good cause?