Bangkok’s Cabbages & Condoms restaurant derives its name from the idea that condoms should be a regular grocery store purchase just like cabbage. (Historically, if I bought condoms as often as I buy cabbage, I’d probably be pregnant several times over, but maybe people in Thailand tend to buy cabbage more than zero times in their lives.)
The restaurant doesn’t seem to actually serve cabbage [PDF], but it does serve up condoms, in the form of rubber-draped light fixtures and mannequins wearing elaborate condom-based outfits. (Yes, that’s a wedding dress.) According to blog Neverending Footsteps, from whence these pictures come, the food isn’t half bad either. And the restaurant’s marketing materials assure you that it is also guaranteed not to cause pregnancy.
This may not be the most efficient route to ending overpopulation or increasing reproductive freedom — for starters, it’s kind of a waste of latex. (Guys! Every condom you incorporate into a weird sci-fi hoodie is a condom that’s not out there making the world safe for ovaries.) Still, we have to love any push to raise the profile of prophylactics. That said, we’d like to warn all you over-eager DIYers against taking too much inspiration from Condoms & Cabbages’ art projects. There’s a time and a place for reuse and upcycling, but this is really not it.
