What’s the Flavor of a Human Meat? Various Sources Reveal What Our Flesh Tastes Like

Our popular meat options include chicken, pork, and beef. Among the things forbidden is human meant, but some dared to taste it, and here's what they said about it.

What Does the Human Flesh Taste Like?

A 20-year-old Spanish influencer, Paula Gonu, recently admitted to cooking a part of her knee in a spaghetti bolognese. She ate it and fed it to her boyfriend.

Her admission received several responses from netizens. Many were disgusted by it, Free Press Journal reported.

Daily Mail shared several accounts from various sources sharing their experience after consuming human meat.

American explorer William Buehler Seabrook set out to compile a thorough history of the societies that consume human flesh in the 1920s. When he met the Guero people in West Africa, he even went so far as to taste it for himself. He documented the experience in his 1931 book "Jungle Ways."

According to the explorer, the raw flesh resembled beef but was less red and had pale yellow fat. It also turned grey after cooking and emitted a beefy fragrance.

Regarding the flavor, he said that it tasted like veal, the meat of calves. The flavor was reportedly very similar that it won't be distinguishable to a person with a normal palate and sensitiveness.

However, many people believed Seabrook's account was inaccurate because he later admitted Guero tribesmen forbade him from participating in their ceremony.

He admitted that he was so disappointed that he took a piece of flesh from the corpse of a dead hospital patient in France and roasted it on a spit.

Since most commentary on cannibalism comes from the criminally insane and is frequently conflicting, experts believe Seabrook's explanation is the most helpful.

Japanese cannibal Issei Sagawa said human flesh is tender and soft like tuna, while German cannibal Armin Meiwes believed it tastes like pork. However, Meiwes said it was more bitter and stronger.

Sagawa, who killed Renée Hartevelt, a Dutch woman, in 1981, claimed that the flesh melted in his mouth like tuna.

However, the 1972 Andes plane crash survivors claimed their frozen meat was flavorless. They were forced to devour their fellow passengers to survive.

Nando Parrado, who was among the survivors, said when he ate it for the first time, it didn't have any taste. He said he forced himself to swallow the meat because he only ate to live.

Is Cannibalism Healthy?

While many consider cannibalism vile, abhorrent, and even immoral, according to Medical News Today, consuming cooked human flesh is no different from the usual flesh from other animals we consume. The health implication is reportedly similar to eating large omnivores.

The outlet noted that the Fore people in Papua New Guinea practiced transumption - a ritual where they eat their deceased relatives. However, the outlet said that people should avoid eating the brain.

The Fore people documented the epidemic of kuru, a fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). TSE is a rare degenerative brain disorder or prion disease, which was the leading cause of death among the female members of the Fore in the 1950s.

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