Has anybody watched that show (Culture Shock) on National Geographic Channel?
Last night I watched this piece they did about tribes in some part of the world (don’t remeber exactly upon editing) where a disease called Kuru(phonetic spelling) killed all kinds of people in the 50s, and they couldn’t figure out what was causing it, but then they realised it was from their practice of cannibalism. I admit, I live in a small town with predominantly WASP-ish people, but not alot makes my jaw drop the way it did last night. Not from the fact that they ate their relatives, but from how they approached it.
This one old man was talking to the interviewer in a tone of voice as if he were talking about the weather or something equally benign, “When young children die, we eat them because their flesh is very tender and juicy. It would be a waste to bury them.”
No, you got the spelling right the first time. The phenomenon was aggravated due to some kind of pathogen in the brain tissue which became compounded though successive and repeated consumption. The practice of cannibalizing the dead, esp. of the brain, had spiritual connotations for the tribe in question; hence the practice. Any nutritional considerations were marginal at best.
This one old man was talking to the interviewer in a tone of voice as if he were talking about the weather or something equally benign, “When young children die, we eat them because their flesh is very tender and juicy. It would be a waste to bury them.”
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Reminds me of the old joke; Do you like children?
Yes… but I couldn’t eat a whole one.
Seriously though,I remember reading something years ago about this disease.Is it caused by eating brains? Or does it affect your brain(a bit like ‘mad cow’ disease)? I can’t remember.
OH NO! That’s not the first symptom,is it?
Thanks Nano,seems like you answered my question,even as I was typing it!
I did a mammoth research project and paper on Kreutzfeld-Jakob disease, and it has actually been linked to Mad Cow disease and Foot and Mouth. The mechanics of both are the same.
I dunno, I was watching some documentary on this african tribe the other day who made a practice of drinking blood from cattle as their main source of protien. I found it a bit icky myself, but whatever makes you happy…
Reminds me of the old joke; Do you like children?
Yes… but I couldn’t eat a whole one.
People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy… and I keep it in a jar on my desk.
Then there’s the problem of what happens when marketing and labeling that’s been successful in one culture gets transplanted without forethought into another culture.
In parts of Africa and other places where many people can’t read, it’s common practice to put a picture of the contents of a food package on the label. So here comes Gerber baby food. Hmmm.
I read in a book, Folklore in the English and Scottish Ballads, that they figure drinking the blood of a deceased loved one had some sort of magical properties, because in versions some ballads, like Dowie Dnes of Yarrow (Child 214) they drink the blood of the deceased. (The nice Victorian people who compiled them for us often changed it so as not to horrify everyone.)
Well, I drink my own blood. And if I ever had my leg amputated, I would consider eating it. But never ever ever another person’s or animals. That just horrifies me in the worst possible way.
Please don’t ever eat your leg! ewww!
(That’s even scarier to me than dead chicken flesh, and I find that pretty scary. )
If I lost my leg, I think it would be weird to bury just a leg. Would I name it, etc? I’d have to do something with it since it did belong to me. I’ve always had a severe fear of loosing one of my limbs, but if I had to loose one, I want it to be my left leg. I pray to God it’s my left leg. If I loose one, of course. But I don’t
)