Editing Human cannibalism (section)

=== Gastronomic and functionalist explanations ===

[[File:A cannibal scene with human flesh roasting by Herbert Ward.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|"A cannibal scene with human flesh roasting over the {{nowrap|fire"{{mdash}}{{hsp}}}}drawing from the [[Congo Basin]] by [[Herbert Ward (sculptor)|Herbert Ward]] (1891)]]
The term ''gastronomic cannibalism'' has been suggested for cases where human flesh is eaten to "provide a supplement to the regular {{nowrap|diet"<ref name=petrinovich-p6/>{{mdash}}{{tsp}}}}thus essentially for its nutritional {{nowrap|value{{tsp}}{{mdash}}{{tsp}}}}or, in an alternative definition, for cases where it is "eaten without ceremony (other than culinary), in the same manner as the flesh of any other animal".{{sfn|Travis-Henikoff|2008|p=24}} While the term has been criticized as being too vague to clearly identify a specific type of cannibalism,{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|pp=16–17}} various records indicate that nutritional or culinary concerns could indeed play a role in such acts even outside of periods of starvation. Referring to the Congo Basin, where many of the eaten were butchered [[slavery|slaves]] rather than enemies killed in war, the anthropologist [[Emil Torday]] notes that "the most common [reason for cannibalism] was simply gastronomic: the natives loved 'the flesh that speaks' [as human flesh was commonly called] and paid for it".<ref name="Siefkes 2022 97">Torday cited in {{harvnb|Siefkes|2022|p=97}}.</ref> The historian Key Ray Chong observes that, throughout Chinese history, "learned cannibalism was often practiced&nbsp;... for culinary appreciation".{{sfn|Chong|1990|p=viii}}

In his popular book ''[[Guns, Germs, and Steel]]'', [[Jared Diamond]] suggests that "protein starvation is probably also the ultimate reason why cannibalism was widespread in traditional New Guinea highland societies",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Diamond |first1=Jared |author1-link=Jared Diamond |title=Guns, Germs and Steel |title-link=Guns, Germs and Steel |date=2017 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-0-09-930278-0 |edition=UK |page=149 |orig-date=1997}}</ref> and both in New Zealand and [[Fiji]], cannibals explained their acts as due to a lack of animal meat.{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|pp=29, 213}} In [[Liberia]], a former cannibal argued that it would have been wasteful to let the flesh of killed enemies spoil,{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|p=126}} and eaters of human flesh in New Guinea and the neighbouring Bismarck Archipelago expressed the same sentiment.{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|pp=189, 236, 243–244}}

In many cases, human flesh was also described as particularly delicious, especially when it came from women, children, or both. Such statements are on record for various regions and peoples, including the Aztecs,{{sfn|Travis-Henikoff|2008|p=158 ("The flesh of children was considered to be the finest")}} Liberia{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|p=105 ("The German traveler Walter Volz observed that the Kpelle people in northern-central Liberia ... considered the 'flavor and tenderness' of human flesh as superior to the meat of any animal, preferring the former as a matter of course whenever they could get it")}} and [[Nigeria]],{{sfn|Hogg|1958|pp=89–90 ("The younger the person, the tenderer will be the flesh{{nbs}}... Man's flesh is best of all, and afterwards follows monkey's flesh.")}}{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|pp=62 ("The British anthropologist P. Amaury Talbot ... found that those practicing cannibalism generally preferred young victims ... In some areas, 'young children' were considered 'the best [food] of all{{'"}}), 105 ("The British anthropologist P. Amaury Talbot notes that 'human flesh is preferred above all for its succulence, and that of monkey is generally considered to come next{{'"}})}} the [[Fang people]] in west-central Africa,{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|p=105 ("The missionary and medical doctor Albert Bennett talked with a Fang man who admitted to have eaten human flesh{{nbs}}... and described it as 'much superior to goat'. The English travel writer [[Mary Kingsley]] found that{{nbs}}... the Fang{{nbs}}... still had the highest praise for this kind of dish: 'Man's flesh, he says, is good to eat, very good, and he wishes you would try it.{{'"}})}} the Congo Basin,{{sfn|Edgerton|2002|pp=46 ("Some described human flesh as the tastiest food on earth"), 86 ("In other societies in the Congo, perhaps even a majority by the late nineteenth century, people ate human flesh whenever they could, saying that it was far tastier than other meat")}}<ref name=Phipps-pp138-139>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KsX_G2FQ078C |title=William Sheppard: Congo's African American Livingstone |first=William E. |last=Phipps |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |date=2002 |pages=138–139 |isbn=0-664-50203-2}}</ref>{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|pp=62, 64, 105–106, 114, 125, 142, 179}} China up to the 14th century,{{sfn|Chong|1990|pp=128 ("Eating human meat was so popular in those days that certain types of human meat became a favorite dish among the people"), 137 ("children's meat was the best food of all in taste, and next to this were women and men"), 144}}{{sfn|Pettersson|1999|p=141}} [[Sumatra]],{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|p=48 ("Junghuhn observes that human flesh was generally praised as very tasty – even better than pork")}} [[Borneo]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bickmore |first1=Albert S. |author-link1=Albert S. Bickmore |title=Travels in the East Indian Archipelago |date=1868 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |pages=424–425 |url=https://archive.org/details/travelsineastind00bick |quote=The rajah of Sipirok assured{{nbs}}... that he had eaten human flesh between thirty and forty times, and that he had never in all his life tasted any thing that he relished half as well.}}</ref> Australia,{{sfn|Lumholtz|1889|pp=271–272}} New Guinea,{{sfn|Hogg|1958|p=130 ("the men and women of these tribes have always said that the flesh of human beings is better than the flesh of any other animal")}}{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|p=193}} New Zealand,{{sfn|Hogg|1958|pp=178 ("The flesh of women and children was to him and his fellow-countrymen the most delicious"), 183 ("the chief and most favoured dish of [a meal] consisted of this young Maori girl")}}{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|p=36}} [[Vanuatu]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Speiser |first1=Felix |title=Ethnology of Vanuatu: An Early Twentieth Century Study |date=1991 |publisher=Crawford House |location=Bathurst, New South Wales |page=215 |quote=Generally speaking, the New Hebrideans feel that human flesh is particularly tasty; it is said to be much better than pork and more tender.}}</ref> and Fiji.{{sfn|Siefkes|2022|pp=213–214 ("The Methodist missionary Walter Lawry{{nbs}}... calls it 'remarkable' that many Fijians told him 'that the flesh of human beings is really very good, and they like it' – clearly preferring it to pork even when both were available{{nbs}}... Wilfrid Walker met three Fijian men who frankly told him that they had eaten human flesh and remembered it as 'far better than pig'{{nbs}}... Alfred St. Johnston, another British traveler, had noted: 'So delicious was human flesh considered, that the highest praise that they could give to other food was to say, "It is as good as ''bakolo''".{{'"}}), 215 ("The men 'interview[ed]' by Walker assured him 'that women and children tasted best'; Erskine observes that 'the flesh of women [is] considered more tender than that of men' and other missionaries and travelers agree")}}
Some Europeans and Americans who ate human flesh accidentally, out of curiosity, or to comply with local customs likewise tended to describe it as very good.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Van Berkel |first1=Adriaan |title=The Voyages of Adriaan van Berkel to Guiana: Amerindian-Dutch Relationships in 17th-Century Guyana |date=2014 |publisher=Sidestone |location=Leiden |page=107 |quote=I have spoken to two Christians who had tried it and declared it tasted very nice.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bentley |first1=Trevor |title=Cannibal Jack: The Life and Times of [[Jacky Marmon]], a Pākehā-Māori |date=2010 |publisher=Penguin |location=Auckland |page=95 |quote=The dish of honour was a roasted&nbsp;... female slave&nbsp;... This was my first experience of human flesh, and [it tasted] very passable.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Seabrook |first1=William |author-link1=William Seabrook |title=Jungle Ways |location=London |publisher= George G. Harrap |date=1931 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.207052 |pages=169, 172 |quote=A sizable rump steak, also a small loin roast&nbsp;... of a freshly killed man&nbsp;... perfectly good to eat&nbsp;... [tasting] like good, fully developed veal&nbsp;... mild, good meat&nbsp;... agreeably edible &nbsp;... tender }}.</ref>{{sfn|Edgerton|2002|p=109. "Remarkably delicious&nbsp;... meat&nbsp;... from a young girl"}}{{sfn|Hogg|1958|pp=115. "Soft and tender&nbsp;... meat [of a] woman"}}

There is a debate among anthropologists on how important [[biological functionalism|functionalist]] reasons are for the understanding of institutionalized cannibalism. Diamond is not alone in suggesting "that the consumption of human flesh was of nutritional benefit for some populations in New Guinea" and the same case has been made for other "tropical peoples&nbsp;... exploiting a diverse range of animal foods", including human flesh. The [[cultural materialism (anthropology)|materialist]] anthropologist [[Marvin Harris]] argued that a "shortage of animal protein" was also the underlying reason for Aztec cannibalism.{{sfn|Lindenbaum|2004|p=480}} The  cultural anthropologist [[Marshall Sahlins]], on the other hand, rejected such explanations as overly simplistic, stressing that cannibal customs must be regarded as "complex phenomen[a]" with "myriad attributes" which can only be understood if one considers "symbolism, ritual, and cosmology" in addition to their "practical function".{{sfn|Lindenbaum|2004|pp=480–481, 483 (citing and summarizing Sahlins)}}

In pre-modern medicine, an explanation given by the now-discredited theory of [[humorism]] for cannibalism was that it was caused  by a black acrimonious humor, which, being lodged in the linings of the [[ventricle (heart)|ventricles]] of the heart, produced a voracity for human flesh.<ref>{{cite book |title=Cyclopædia |title-link=Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences |publisher=1728 |page=[https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A4C5AV6Q7LZ5DY8E/pages/AERODNFSAGUB2N8X?view=one 107] |chapter=Anthropophagy}}</ref> On the other hand, the French philosopher [[Michel de Montaigne]] understood war cannibalism as a way of expressing vengeance and hatred towards one's enemies and celebrating one's victory over them, thus giving an interpretation that is close to modern explanations. He also pointed out that some acts of Europeans in his own time could be considered as equally barbarous, making his essay "[[Of Cannibals]]" ({{circa|1580}}) a precursor to later ideas of [[cultural relativism]].{{sfn|Lindenbaum|2004|pp=480, 484}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Montaigne |first1=Michel de |title=Essays |title-link=Essays (Montaigne) |date=1595 |chapter=On Cannibals |chapter-url=http://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/montaignecannibals.htm |at=Book 1, ch. 31 }}</ref>