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Taiwanese actor, Benjamin Wong, took to Instagram to share something unusual after his wife gave birth.
Known as Benji, Wong uploaded a video of him preparing and stir-frying his wife's placenta post-partum.
His caption, which is written in Chinese, read: "Giving birth to a child is difficult, so it's said that the best way to restore the body is by eating the placenta. This is a simple way to incorporate the placenta into your cooking."
How he prepared the dish
Wong showed off his culinary skills by documenting how he cooked his wife's placenta.
Screenshot via Instagram
He began by washing the placenta and removing a grey membrane that covered the placenta.
From there, he chopped it up alongside the umbilical cord into bite-size pieces before putting it in boiling water.
Screenshot via Instagram
He boiled the placenta pieces again after changing the water.
Wong then prepared some vegetables to accompany the placenta, and he chopped up two bell peppers, an onion and ginger.
He sauteed the vegetables in avocado oil before seasoning them with salt and adding the boiled placenta. Finally, he sprinkled some black pepper for more seasoning before cooking it and serving it to his wife.
Screenshot via Instagram
He fed his wife a piece before he ate one himself.
Then, he took a bite of it and showed the camera the slightly pink hue in the middle as if he were presenting a medium-rare steak to the camera.
Review of the placenta
When he took a bite from the placenta, Wong commented that it "tastes a little like pig's liver", while his wife thought it tasted "fishy".
Screenshot via Instagram
Wong's wife tried it for the second time and deemed it "quite good" and "kind of crispy".
Is it safe to eat a placenta?
The placenta is "an intricate organ" that nourishes a growing fetus inside a female human's womb, where it exchanges nutrients and oxygen with the carrier and filters out waste products via the umbilical cord, according to Mayo Clinic.
While it is not common, people believe that the placenta could boost their energy, encourage breast milk production and even prevent post-partum depression (PPD), BBC reported.
According to WebMD, there is no proof that eating the placenta can benefit the consumer, and the claims are not thoroughly tested.
Eating a human placenta, known as human placentophagy, has existed throughout history and in different cultures.
BBC wrote that dried placenta is used in some traditional Chinese medicine and is thought to have restorative properties.
Some celebrities have also consumed their own placentas, such as Kim Kardashian, who ate her own placenta to avoid PPD when she gave birth to her son in 2015.
Internet's reaction
Many of those who commented on Wong's post expressed their disbelief and did not hide their disgust.
Some were even shocked that one could eat human placenta.
Screenshot via Instagram
Screenshot via Instagram
Screenshot via Instagram
Screenshot via Instagram
Top photo via Instagram/Kungfubenji