Surgeons had to remove the finger of Dave Playpenz and part of his hand after it turned black.
But rather than throw the finger away, the bondage furniture maker asked to take it home after his op.
Dave, from Colchester, Essex, said: “It had been kept in the same fridge where the nurses stored the milk for their tea.”
Dave, who admits being curious about cannibalism, said he then thought of eating his own finger and keeping the bones.
He said: “I’d always wondered what human flesh tastes like. But it’s taboo.
“People can’t go around being cannibals – that’s illegal. Only then, it occurred to me that no one could haul me to court for eating my own flesh.
“I decided to cook it and taste it. Then my curiosity would be satisfied.”
He also told love it! magazine: “I know it sounds mad, but it wasn’t just the curiosity. That finger was a big bit of me, too big a bit to lose.
“I decided that, if I ate the flesh and kept the bones, then I wouldn’t be losing part of me.”
Dave waited two days to recover from his operation before going through with his plan.
He boiled the finger in salt water, adding: “Because I wanted to keep the bones, I decided not to fry or roast the finger, as that would damage them.
“I didn’t have sauce or drink wine with it as I wanted to know what the real taste was.”
He has been keeping the bones in a box since and insisted most of his friends did not mind his bizarre experience.
Dave added: “A couple said, ‘It’s disgusting.’ But most people are intrigued. A vegan friend of mine approved of it, as at least I had my own permission whereas animals don’t give their consent before they’re eaten.
“And no, it hasn’t turned me into some kind of Hannibal Lecter. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which I definitely won’t be repeating.”
-Adapted from The Sun
