Numerous tales originating in Asia (usually Hong Kong, although I have also seen references to Singapore, Thailand, India, Japan, Korea, etc) describe restaurants that serve monkey brains. The procedure for preparation is usually described thusly: A live monkey is brought to the table and immobilized by having his head thrust through a metal collar. In some versions scalding water is poured over his scalp to kill off the lice. Then a tool of some sort is used to smash the creature’s skull, and its brains are scooped out and consumed raw. Can you establish any truth to this, or are we dealing with just another long-running urban legend?
We began as we always do, by seeing what we could scare up on the Web. Plenty has been written about this. The Chinese, or at least those in Guangdong province, near Hong Kong, are said to prize all manner of bizarre foods, including bear’s paw, snake, crocodile, dog, kangaroo, pigeon, frogs, sparrows, live baby mice (“good for ulcers”), newborn rats (“pinkies,” swallowed whole and alive for asthma), lizards, worms seasoned in cheddar cheese and Mexican spices, fried ants, scorpions, smoked reindeer, moose, crickets, caterpillar larvae, and of course monkey brains.
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“We don’t see any monkeys in the tree & don’t see one on the ground–we figured he missed & Tony was joking about lunch. A while later as we’re leaving, the Indonesians near the boat shed have a beach fire going & are cooking something in a big pot–and on a tree we see a monkey skin.
