Japanese University Students Make Cheesecake From Gorilla Bacteria

Gorillas are beautiful and majestic creatures, but they are not generally what one would consider appetizing. Still, some enterprising students at the prestigious Kyoto University used their scientific knowledge to extract bacteria from the gut of a west lowland gorilla, which they then used to make a cheesecake, so hooray for science.

According to Rocket News 24, the students made the cakes in honor of the university's new president, who discovered the bacterium in the gut of the gorillas in 2009 and named it Lactobacillus gorillae. At the time he probably did not think he would ever wind up eating a dessert made from his discovery, but as part of a promotional event for the school's Open Campus this week, some students made the bacteria into yogurt, and then made the yogurt into cheesecake.

The cheesecake is called "Gorilla Frommage" and is for sale at the school's Italian restaurant during the Open Campus. Each plate costs $3.20 and comes with one slice of ginger cheesecake and one slice of banana cheesecake, because it really would be silly to make a gorilla cheesecake without flavoring it with bananas.

University president Juichi Yamagiwa was game to try the cheesecake and said it was actually quite good.

"I hope guests eat this cake, feel like a gorilla, and try seeing the world from a different perspective," he said.

Even if you do not have any gorilla bacteria at hand, you can create a delicious cheesecake by trying one of our best cheesecake recipes.