Health food

I remember my mum always telling me to eat my greens. "They're good for you!" she'd say. And she was right - these days I genuinely like, and eat, most vegetables.

My palate does, however, have its limits and this story from China doesn't just overstep them, it steamrollers them.

There are many thousands of Chinese restaurants around the world and everyone has their favourite dish, but it seems that in China itself chefs specialise in a range of slightly more 'unusual' delicacies.

Most of them are penises. And most of them are supposed to have some sort of therapeutic qualities.

So what have we got on the menu?

Well, first there's Russian dog's penis and testicles, which is good for virility. Add to that Salami-sized donkey dick - ditto on the virility front - and a kind of penis hotpot or fondue which is apparently low in cholesterol and good for a whole range of ailments, not just the male sex drive.

Then there's tiger penis.

This is both rare and expensive but has exactly the same taste and 'medicinal properties' as all the other animals' private parts. Indeed, there have been accusations from animal rights group that this kind of trade is endangering the existence of tigers in China, though the restaurant owners - or nutritionists, as they prefer to be called - say that they only take the penises of tigers who've died from old age. My question here is this: where's the virility in that? To be fair, they reckon they only get a couple of orders a year for that particular delicacy, due in main to its elevated cost, so Im'not sure how far that would go to endagering a species.

Snakes apparently have two penises and you can also get them here. They've very potent it seems. And sheep, horse, ox and seal penises are all good for circulation.

Dicks are not all they've got on offer though. Bull's perineum is another delicacy. Bon apetit!

And we can't forget the pièce de résistance from the menu - something that'll really make you go mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Who in their right mind could ever order aborted reindeer foetus? It's apparently good for the skin so maybe there's a always queue of eczema sufferers waiting for tables in that particular restaurant....

Me? I think I'll stick to spring roll, egg-fried rice and beef chow mein.

Full story on the BBC.