Controversy over the sale of dessert for elephant in restaurants...750,000 won for course meal with larvae
Apr 17, 2025
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According to the Hong Kong media South China Morning Post, a high-end restaurant in Shanghai presented a dessert of processed elephant feces 'Tropical Rainforest Concept'.
The restaurant, known for its eco-friendly cuisine, offers a variety of innovative dishes, including leaves, honeyed ice cubes, and desserts made from sterilized and dried elephant droppings.
The price of a luxurious 15-course rainforest-themed meal menu is 3,888 yuan (about 755,000 won). You have to order drinks separately.
Two restaurant founders are from Chinese ethnic minorities and France, respectively.
They said they had studied Yunnan's rainforest for seven years and opened a restaurant with this concept in Shanghai.
Customers who visit this place are prone to panic because the meal process is different from that of ordinary restaurants. You should go around the restaurant as if exploring, rather than sitting still at the table. You also have to go up and down the stairs.
Looking at the course meal, customers in the store chew the leaves in the pot with an appetizer, followed by licking the ice coated with honey and pollen.
In addition, after meals such as soup dishes and fried larva dishes of parasitic plants, which are notorious for their stench, desserts decorated with herbal perfumes, fruit jams, pollen, and honey sherbet are served based on elephant poop.
In fact, elephant poop, which is rich in plant fiber, is used as a raw material for producing various products such as paper.
However, it is questionable whether it is okay to eat even after going through a certain treatment.
According to China's Food Sanitation Act, food is non-toxic, harmless, and must meet nutritional standards.
Netizens are saying, `It's disgusting. It's from Yunnan, but we never eat elephant poo", "It feels like a test of humiliation and submission to some wealthy people", "It's not a traditional restaurant. More like a new experimental site. If you're looking for a unique dining experience, it's worth a try" There is a great deal of disagreement among others.
In the wake of the controversy, food sanitation authorities have launched an investigation into the restaurant, and the store is reportedly temporarily closed.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
