Japanese Scientist Makes a Turd Burger to Solve World Hunger

There are a lot of scientists working to cure the world's hunger crisis. Scientists are working with crops, trying to find better grains and even growing meat in test tubes. That's all great, and we commend them, but one Japanese scientist has gone way too far. Mitsuyuki Ikeda at Okayama...

By Laine Doss

June 21, 2011

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There are a lot of scientists working to cure the world's hunger crisis. Scientists are working with crops, trying to find better grains and even growing meat in test tubes. That's all great, and we commend them, but one Japanese scientist has gone way too far.

Mitsuyuki Ikeda at Okayama Laboratories has made a burger from sewage mud from human excrement, red food coloring, and a little soy. The result is a "turd burger" that tastes like a burger (yeah, we believe that).

The only problem, Professor Ikeda admits, is getting people to get past the psychological barrier of eating crap. Sounds like there''ll be a lot of children in therapy in the future.

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Laine Doss is the food and spirits editor for Miami New Times, covering the restaurant and bar scene in South Florida. She has been featured on Cooking Channel’s Eat Street and Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race. Doss won an Alternative Weekly award for her feature on what it’s like to wait tables. In a previous life, she appeared off-Broadway and shook many a cocktail as a bartender at venues in South Florida and New York City. When she’s not writing, you can find Doss running some marathon then celebrating at the nearest watering hole.

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