Taiwanese artiste stir-fries and eats wife's placenta after she gave birth

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to eat a part of the human body?

For Taiwanese actor and singer Benji Wang, his experience came in the form of eating his wife's placenta.

The 40-year-old welcomed his first child, a daughter, with wife Cindy Chen last Sunday (May 14).

Benji, whose real name is Benjamin Wang and who is of Taiwanese-American parentage, is best known for his role in idol drama K.O. 3an Guo.

In an Instagram post on Monday, he shared a video of him preparing a special dish for her – stir-fried placenta with vegetables.

He wrote in the caption in Mandarin: "Giving birth is tough on the mum. I heard that consuming the placenta is the best way to nourish one's body."

The video showed Benji preparing the placenta for cooking, which involved boiling it in hot water twice. He also cut up some red and yellow bell peppers, an onion and ginger, before frying all the ingredients in avocado oil and seasoning it with salt and pepper.

According to WebMD and Mayo Clinic, the consumption of one's placenta after giving birth is said to be able to boost the mother's energy, provide important nutrients such as iron, reduce postpartum bleeding and improve breast milk supply. It is also believed that it can level out hormones, which lowers the woman's chances of insomnia and postpartum depression. These claims have not been proven yet.

Towards the end of the video, Benji sat down with Cindy to try the dish. He took a bite of the placenta and said in Mandarin: "I think it tastes a little like pig's liver."

He also fed a piece to Cindy, who initially thought that the placenta was going to taste "fishy", but was pleasantly surprised. 

"It's actually quite good and is kind of crispy," she said.

ALSO READ: Placenta may have mechanism that protects foetus from Covid-19; vaccines safe with rheumatic diseases

yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.