Restaurant seeks donations of human flesh

BERLIN, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A new Berlin restaurant expected to open its doors soon has angered local politicians by asking for donations of body parts to be cooked and eaten there.

The bizarre request is made on the restaurant's Web site, Der Spiegel reported. The restaurant, called Flime, is to open at the beginning of September.

Potential donors are warned they must fill out a health and physical fitness questionnaire and told the restaurant will only pay hospital expenses, that all tissue is to be given gratis. On the German Web site, the restaurant also posted a help-wanted ad for an "open-minded surgeon."

While most observers believe the call for body parts is an effort to drum up publicity, politicians say it is in very bad taste. A man who killed and ate a Berliner -- who volunteered -- was sentenced in 2006 to life in prison.

"I am assuming it is a misguided joke," Michael Braun, a Christian Democrat member of the state parliament, told the newspaper Bild. "But it is disgusting, in particular because a resident of Berlin was murdered by a cannibal not too long ago."