A prep chef at a Japanese restaurant in Iowa earned his employer a hefty fine for unsanitary kitchen practices by the Iowa Health Department when a video of him caressing, licking and French-kissing two toads before preparing the day's special lunch menu was brought to their attention by the cook's jealous girlfriend.
The restaurant's owner, Hung Dang Long, claims that cook Anak Jerudong (nickname "Joop"), is a native cook from the small island nation of Brunai and has a very strange sense of humor, but he is masterful at his craft.
Joop claims he was just having some fun with the toads, which he brings with him to work every day. "I love my toads," Joop told the health inspector when confronted with the videotape. "My girlfriend is a very jealous woman. She claims that I give too much attention to my toads and not enough to her. She told me she was making the tape to send to producers of the show "Next Food Network Star" to enter me into a contest, but she lied.
Restaurant owner Long says he'll pay the fine and the toads have since been banned from the restaurant's kitchen, but Joop says he may just take that tape and send it to the Next Food Network Star producers himself. "I think a show about a chef who cares deeply about the food he cooks would be good for America," he said, as he appeared to be fondling two toads trying to escape from under his chef coat.
