So, a few months ago, I started thinking about cannibalism. Not as a possible lifestyle, but merely as a taboo. Why do we freak when we think about eating human flesh? Of course, there's the issue of disease. Flesh borne diseases spread quickly when you feed an animal other members of its species. Witness mad cow disease for the truth of this. Then, there is the sinfulness aspect. People associate cannibalism with murder, or assume that the eating of human flesh is a sin in their religion. This is certainly true in some religions, but most christian sects don't have dietary laws of any substance.
So, how do people react if you strip away these factors? Would people be willing to try human flesh if you didn't have to kill someone to do it? I postulated a scenario based on Star Trek. What if, for instance, I replicated a copy of my leg, scanned it for any possible diseases, then fried it up with butter and onions? I'm a ethically based vegetarian, but even I couldn't have any vegetarian objection to eating replicated human meat, with permission freely given. But very few people would even consider the premise. In fact, most found the idea truly distrubing. I have to admit, the idea bothered me a bit.
Well, I not longer have to postulate replicated human flesh. Thanks to the kind folks at Hufu, we have a vegetarian alternative to human flesh. According to the website, "HufuTM is [a vegetarian meat substitute] designed to resemble, as humanly possible, the taste and texture of human flesh. " This might be an interesting substitute for turkey at this year's thanksgiving banquet! Oh, and HuFu is also looking for cannibals to do a comparison test of their product. The current product is based on descriptions of the taste of human flesh. I think we'd all like to know how close they got.
No comments:
Post a Comment