I think, morally speaking (and probably taste too) I'd be ok about eating someone if my life depended on it.

[EleanorHandbasket]

I was just pondering this as I cooked some bacon. As you do.

Pigs are lovely, I'm very fond, but I've no issue with eating them. Lambs too, and all sorts of other animals. And I thought, woudl I eat, say, a dolphin?

Hmm. Probably. Especially if I was really hungry and it was all there was.



And then I thought, well, what about a person.

And do you know, my brain doesn't scream in horror at the idea. If I was marooned on a desert island for eg, with someone else, and they starved to death, I'd probably be ok with cooking and eating what was left of them. And in fact, if someone else did the butchering bit, I'd probably chow down fairly happily.



I've never really thought about it before. But there you go.

AIBU?

[tungthai]

I don't think I could. I don't think my desire to survive would be strong enough to eat human flesh.

[MoreBeta]

Of course as we know, women live ages longer than men in disasters because of body fat.

If I were on the MN death flight and survived the crash all I could look forward to was a slow and certain death with you lot eyeing me up for weeks (not in a good way either) just waiting for me to pop my clogs.

I might be tempted to try the amputation route or perhaps just nibble a finger off each day to keep my strength up like a sort of fleshy version of Kendal Mint Cake.

[Eastpoint]

[ImTooHecsyForYourParty]

On here?

I don't think it's possible.

[Eastpoint]

I really don't like my next door neighbour. Anybody feel like trying her? She is mid-50s & has a very good diet washed down with red wine.

Oh dear, have I gone beyond normal levels of poor taste?

[Poledra]

Yes, but she and I are probably well-matched in height and weight, so it could be difficult to take her down - though she's single and DH is a big chap so between us, we could do it, I reckon.

[ImTooHecsyForYourParty]

I think what would send you dotty about eating humans is not that there is anything in the meat itself that would physically affect you, but rather the psychological impact on you of eating a fellow human being and the impact of your life up to and at that point that was so awful that you were left with no option but to eat your neighbour.

[Poledra]

I'm now concerned that we have no pets and next door's cat looks huge but is properly a mere titbit when you remove his fur

I'd do it. And could probably butcher someone too, as I'm not squeamish about things like that. Would be difficult without my nice sharp knives though. And they wouldn't let me on a flight with one in my hand bag

[1Veryhungrycaterpillar]

If it was apocalypse I don't think I'd want to live, you can eat me if you like, just wait till I'm already dead though

[TheCraicDealer]

It's long been suspected that the first colonists to America turned to cannibalism, but they recently found proof. I'm a bit less up for it when you see the face of a 14 year old looking back at you, like in that reconstruction. And the fact that they probably picked her because she had no other relatives left to argue....SAD FACE.

Some of the OP sounds like a Hillaire Belloc poem-

"Pigs are lovely, I'm very fond,
Cows are cute (and sometimes spotty)
Although Human flesh, I'm told,
Would send me rather dotty"

[ConfusedPixie]

I'm a veggie. I would if it came down to it. To mer it's like the ridiculous "if you were stranded I a desert island, would you eat meat?" Question that many people seem to think is pertinent to ask veggies if you needed food, you'd eat it.

[yamsareyammy]

[ImTooHecsyForYourParty]

No, no, it's good. You're a hero.

When the apocalypse comes, you and all those who couldn't possibly chow down on a slice of Mrs Jones Next Door and would rather die will be rounded up and fed to the rest of us.

win win.

[yamsareyammy]

Lay off me people!

[mrssprout]

I think it's hard to know exactly what you would be able to do in a life & death situation. My Pa was a POW & said the men who survived tended to be the ones who could put aside their usual feelings to food & eat whatever could be found eg: the bugs in the handful of rice given, the commanders dog that got too close to the prisoners boiling the rice one day. All sounds a bit yuck when you are sitting in your home with a kitchen with food available but very different if you are living through the situation. Sitting here now I can't imagine eating a person but if it was a choice of do that or die then a survival instinct may very well kick in & I might do it. On a lighter note this thread would be a very good dieting tool, I had been planning to go get a snack.......now maybe not.

[Eastpoint]

Yes I could & I think I might find it easier than eating crickets, locusts or beetles. I had to eat something really scary looking in Japan once & I felt sick with every mouthful.

[MusicalEndorphins]

No. I just asked dh and he also said no.

[zonetwo]

Depends who it is I think. Doesn't cannibalism send people mad? Think I read that once, no idea if it's true.

[Morloth]

yamsareyammy 'No, I would rather die.'

Egggggselllent...

[MrsKoala]

I don't get the ick factor about this subject (i've come to the conclusion i'm defective, with something missing - as i have no ick about bodies, or fluids in any way). I don't think i'd even wait to be starving. Peckish would be enough for me to be eyeing up my fellow passengers. And they wouldn't have to be that dead either.

[VerySmallSqueak]

I don't suppose it would really practically work, More. You'd already be in a weakened state to even consider it.

I think I would eat pretty much anything if it was digestible.

(pretty much do really with my standard of cooking )

[MoreBeta]

Logically speaking I thought that it would save my life - my hand/leg is surely just as good to eat as that of another person and have the same nutritional value.

Practically speaking I thought the actual operation of removing the limb and suturing it might be life threatening though.

I have read of people doing their own amputations in extreme circumstances so maybe it is possible.