You probably made a face upon reading the headline, and it's understandable, but what this Toronto pop-up restaurant was trying to do, was change that belief.
It was called June's Eatery, and every single chef in the kitchen was fearlessly making your food, because they want to bring awareness that the HIV virus CANNOT spread that easily.
Donning aprons with phrases like, "Think you can get HIV from food? Bite me," and "Kiss the HIV + Cook," the 14 chefs prepared two four-course dinners for a cool $125, on Nov. 6-8.
OK, so the term "chef" might be a little loose here, but everyone working the kitchen for the popup was trained by Chef Matt Basile of the Lisa Marie bar in Toronto, Canada, so they got some help.
The event was hosted by Casey House, which is Canada's only stand-alone hospital for people with HIV/AIDS, and their whole thing is basically helping remove stigmas about HIV, one being that it can be transmitted through food.
In case you were wondering, according to the CDC, HIV can only be spread through certain body fluids during sexual activity, needles, and in very rare cases, breastfeeding, oral sex, and blood transfusions. In possibly the rarest cases, maybe with two people who have bleeding gums at the same time, have an intense makeout sesh, and let the virus flow through the bloodstream.
It cannot be transmitted through saliva, so HIV cannot be spit into food. And even if someone with HIV bled all over your chili, which should never be a thing in the first place, the virus ABSOLUTELY CANNOT SPREAD by ingestion.
Our awesome volunteers working their magic in the kitchen. Second course coming right up #SmashStigma pic.twitter.com/EewjJgeaqR
— Casey House (@caseyhouseTO) November 7, 2017
While you might still be grossed out by the thought of someone with HIV handling your food, you're in no real danger, and that's all they were trying to show with these dinners.
