Try the taste of human flesh!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED UPDATE: Heat magazine said my sausages were gross in their issue out 06/09/2011.

As you may, or may not, know in additional to my strange cake events I work as a freelance creative (as well as making films for AVG). This project, for Edinburgh Dungeons, has got to be one of the most disturbing briefs to date; I was tasked  to come up and a way to promote the Sawney Bean attraction at the Edinburgh Dungeon.  Alexander Sawney Bean being the head of an infamous incestuous cannibalistic family, who oversaw a 25-year reign of murder and robbery from a hidden sea cave on the Ayrshire/Galloway coast in the 15th century. So cheery stuff then!

The resulting concept (& coverage)? Human hotdogs or to put it another way sausages which are the closest possible way to experience the sensation of eating human flesh without doing so. Yep I have spent the last month researching all instances of where a cannibal has eaten human flesh and documented the taste in some way, for example the German Canibal Armin Meiwes. I then worked with the amazing specialist sausage makers, Crombies of Edinburgh, who used my definitive description of the taste of human flesh to life in sausage form. Voila the Human Hotdogs which will be on sale at Crombies until the end of August (they also do mail order). As with all creative concepts I think it is important to reiterate that this stunt was a perfect match for the attraction in the dungeon we were looking to promote,  and that we did not purposefully go down a controversial route. For starters I would not think of anything so dark on my own accord! Let’s face it this is really really messed up – but at the same time a perfect story to promote a cannibal themed attraction.

The ‘mixture’ for the human flesh must remain a closely guarded secret but I can say that some of the ingredients include crushed rhubarb to replicate the sinewy effect recorded and chopped figs to give a crunchy bite. Having done all the research I can’t face trying these but apparently they are quite nice…

On top of this I had to think up other cannibal treats for the Edinburgh Dungeons to treat the people of Edinburgh so if you are looking to create such a feast then here are some tips;

• Chewit’s giant tongues are amazing, I have used them a lot
• Ground almonds are an easy substitution for ground bone
• Beef jerky makes perfect ‘dried human skin’ – this site also stocks a tofu version for vegetarians
• Thinly slice pickled walnuts finely sliced give the appearance of small slices of preserved brain
• Pashmak makes a perfect human hair – you can buy a great range from Selfridges (I used chocolate in this instance)
• Splash loads of red food dye over cocktail sticks for a pretty basic ‘bloodied’ effect

Don’t forget you can also sign up for The Edible Autopsy at http://www.edibleautopsy.com – or that you can email me if you need some random creative work on your projects!

Here’s a scan of the piece in the Sun today too