The practice of placentophagia, eating the placenta, is practiced in many parts of the world, and is said to stem postpartum depression and help to contract the uterus after the birth.
After Chrissy Schilling had her first baby over the weekend, her twin sister Kathy cooked up the placenta and they had a feast. They put it on pasta and on a sandwich. They even put pictures of the meal on Facebook!
Twin sister Kathy says:
I would say that the placenta is so nourishing for the baby during pregnancy that there is still much to gain from it even after the birth. It's a good 6 lbs of meat that's just chockful of lingering blood, vitamins, and hormones that can still in part be transferred upon eating -- even through cooking. When I cooked it, I cleaned the surface blood off of it, but kept anything that seaped out of it into the sauce. I know I was feeling pretty giddy while eating, so maybe that was some of the happy hormones effects taking place.
