What does human flesh taste like?

My guess would be to have your demon (presumably the one who eats humans) describe the taste any way you (or he) likes. Humans taste like strawberry ice cream. The best fish pie ever. People are unlikely to come forward to argue: "Well, I eat human steaks all the time, and this author is way off base...."

 

native tribal societies in many Indonesian islands still practice the ritual of eating the deceased.

There was a serial killer in Germany that cut up his victims and sold it as fresh pork in his butcher shop. Also, many ship crewman that have eaten long-pig actually thought it was pork.

besides. the only objection to eating human is from our own culture. other cultures view this as a perfectly normal act. It is therefore wrong to judge their culture based on the values of our own. The same as people who condemn religions or cultures that have different beliefs.

 

Just a couple of thoughts about this. Meat from animals which have been fed differently can taste radically different, such as chickens which have been fed corn compared to those which have been fed whatever non corn fed chickens eat. So we could infer from that that an animal's diet plays a role in the flavour and texture of its flesh. Aside from the examples of organic, corn-fed etc, most non-human animals have a pretty consistent diet, so all members of a particular species tend to taste the same. Humans on the other hand have radically different diets even within the same group, so one human could very possibly taste different to another. Add to that the fact that humans tend to vary more by body fat and muscle mass, so some humans would have very lean flesh and others very fatty. The point is that it's probably not possible to say what humans in general taste like as we're too diverse. Of course, your reader might not realise this or might not agree, so if you have your demon describe the flesh as tasting like beef, your reader might find this unrealistic.

I can think of a couple of ways around this. Rather than likening the flavour or texture to an animal which humans eat, you could describe its qualities. The demon could make specific reference to the difference in this particular human's taste and how it contrasts with others he has eaten.

The other thing you could do is to compare the human flesh to something else the demon eats. After all, do demons eat chicken, beef, pork and fish which is cultivated and prepared in the same way as humans? Probably not, which means it would be incapable of making such a comparison. From the demon's POV, it has no idea what a cut of pork tastes like as, if anything, it would probably devour the whole pig. So you could create a fictitious meat for it to compare it with.

 

*Maori. There you go. Think of it as education.

 

But what is the point of cooking it at all, since you want it raw?

 

In Japan, I often get gyu tataki, seared beef. Searing the outside adds a certain flavor to it, but doing so by using a fairly thick (1"/2.5cm) cut and a high heat in the pan leaves all but the outside browned section raw, for maximum fresh flavor. They do the same thing for tuna, and I imagine a nice, fresh, free-range child would work as well.

Damn, now I'm getting hungry.....

eta beef tataki:

 

I understand since you were talking about food. But at the same time, in that context.

 

Look at my profile pic and tell me....

Want to come over for dinner?

 

.

 

Hi Oscar,

The Maori were still cannibals until 2006? I am actually a kiwi and I certainly wasn't aware of this! Do you think perhaps you should do some fact checking?!

Cheers, Greg.

 

Well, I was correcting the spelling of @Cave Troll, I have no idea if his fact was accurate.

 

There might be survival accounts of people lost in the wilderness and having to resort to cannibalism to survive. Maybe one of them can help you?

What an...interesting, macabre question this is.

 

That looks surprisingly tasty. The Japanese have a way of presenting things, don't they!? *drools*

Trust them to have something like this. They do love their raw meats. I think they serve raw horse, don't they??

Raw fish is cool - i like raw fish. Raw anything else, meat-wise, I haven't really tried, except for that minced thingy that was gross.

 

Yeah, there is a horse sashimi. Haven't been able to bring myself to try it yet, although I did try a very small taste of raw whale meat when a visitor insisted on ordering it. Tasted like...dunno, fatty beefy-ish. Ethics aside, those animals have a very high tolerance for mercury...

 

Well I can't remember exactly when, and it is not an easy piece of info to find. Anywho, my best recollection is that it was officially abolished in the 21st century.


@Iain Aschendale What the heck is your avatar pic of? Does he have a name, and/or what is it from?

 

Hi Oscar,

Sorry, didn't realise that this was Cave Troll's assertion. But the staement is so obviously false I would have thought anyone would have realised it.

Cheers, Greg.

 

Hi Cave,

The last recorded case of cannibalism in New Zealand occurred in 1845.

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=THS18850328.2.3

Cheers, Greg.

 

Funny. I looked into it and there never was a defined answer as to when. There were multiple places I looked (seems even with official documentation of history can't bother to keep it's story straight, or people all got different info.)

I will take your word, because I actually have it going all the way up to the 1970s. But I know very little (even after looking into the subtopic), about what actually happened (at least with any detail or accuracy).
So I will say I was misinformed on this subject. So before I look to much more like a complete idiot, I am conceding my original thoughts on the subject because I just don't have any good information to add to conversation of said topic.

Sorry I have been ignorant to a few degrees on this. (I don't know everything.)

 

@Cave Troll That's me, Halloween 2009. He doesn't have a specific name, he's a combination of Priss from Blade Runner, Ryuk from Death Note, Hellsing (might be the character name or just a name from the series, I only know the imagery), and Fields of the Nephilim.

I take Halloween very seriously.

 

or Greg Foot a reporter who ate part of his own foot.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3503341/Human-flesh-tastes-pork-lamb-Gruesome-video-shows-man-testing-meat-leg.html

 

Now there's a man who saw the chance to make a joke and fully committed to it.

 

@Iain Aschendale Very nice. Halloween is the best holiday.

 

It looks like the Crow mixed with the Joker. Then something else for the long white hair and baby doll necklace.

 

Yup, sorry, forgot about Joker, he's in there too. As for the babydolls (I hope knockoff-Barbie nudity is allowed, if not, mods please forgive and delete):

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

 

It did sound suspicious once you pointed that out.