For any vegetarian fans of the Alien movies, this edible facehugger really would be a nightmare dinner to sit down to.
The work is the creation of Tye Lombardi, also known as Hellen Die, of Boise, Idaho, whose experience in Hollywood has lent itself to this rather creative and foody pursuit.
The creation, made from a full size roast chicken, crab legs and a homemade sausage tail, was inspired by 15 years working in film and TV, with much of that time working on horror films, writing, costume designing and building props.
“I’ve been a monster movie fan for as long as I can remember,” said Hellen. “And the Alien franchise is definitely a classic in that genre that I love.
“Last year I made the ‘chestburster’ turkey and had a lot of fun with that. This year I kept thinking ‘OK, how am I going to top that?’ Then, about a week ago, I saw a spatchcocked chicken and my brain went: ‘Hmm, that looks a lot like a facehugger. All it needs is a tail and some legs.'”
Having posted a picture of the finished article to Reddit, Hellen’s post received more than 100,000 upvotes, resonating with people who recognised the nightmare-ish film character.
“Even if you’re not a huge fan who has seen each film multiple times, (HR) Giger’s xenomorphs are so iconic that they’re instantly recognisable,” said Hellen, whose local fishmonger apparently enjoyed the idea too.
“I think the best part of coming up with the recipe was going to my local seafood counter at the store and explaining why I needed eight snow crab legs but no claws,” she continued.
“I ended up showing the guy behind the counter a photo of the facehugger and he got so excited we ended up talking for another 10 minutes about the movies and how much we both loved them.”
It’s clearly an inspired idea, albeit a confusing dish to be served – what does Hellen make of it from a culinary perspective?
“To be honest, I’m not a chef, and I think that’s evident in the fact that I cooked the crab legs with the chicken and dried them out so badly!” she said. “Lesson learned: put them in after you roast the chicken. I’m still blown away by the fact that this turned out so well on the first try.”
Hellen runs a website with more spookily inspired recipe ideas that are “about taking everyday foods and giving them a twist”. This facehugger main course is certainly worthy of that description – the question is: would you eat it?
Hellen is currently working on an e-book of recipes for dogs (or hellhounds, as Hellen puts it) to raise money for the treatment of her own dog, Luci – to donate and find out more, click here.
