# Cannibalism of pygmies?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 9, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252 "2012-03-09T12:23:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252/1 "2012-03-09T12:23:03Z")
> **[Pygmy peoples](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_peoples)**
>
> In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a population) for populations in which adult men are on average less than 150 cm (4 ft 11 in) tall.
> Although the term is sometimes considered derogatory because it focuses on a physical trait, it remains the primary term associated with the African Pygmies,...
> [@](#):
>
> In 2003, Sinafasi Makelo, a representative of Mbuti pygmies, told the UN’s Indigenous People’s Forum that during the Congo Civil War, his people were hunted down and eaten as though they were game animals. In neighbouring North Kivu province there has been cannibalism by a group known as Les Effaceurs (“the erasers”) who wanted to clear the land of people to open it up for mineral exploitation.[21] Both sides of the war regarded them as “subhuman” and some say their flesh can confer magical powers.[22] Makelo asked the UN Security Council to recognise cannibalism as a crime against humanity and an act of genocide.[23]
Is this actually widespread?(the cannibalism). One ref is a dead link and the other is a brief mention. From Makelo’s testimony it does not sound isolated(hunted as game animals).
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### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252/2 "2012-03-09T12:32:48Z")
Is cannibalism widespread in Africa? Fuck yeah.
Were acts of barbarity, including cannibalism, common in the Congo war? Fuck yeah.
Were Pygmies vicitims of these acts? It would be astonishing if they were not.
Were pygmies more often victims than other people? Since they were caught between two opposing out-of-control armies, it would be hard to see how they could not be.
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### Author:  [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252/3 "2012-03-09T12:34:41Z")
> [@Blake](#):
>
> Is cannibalism widespread in Africa? Fuck yeah.
>
> Were acts of barbarity, including cannibalism, common in the Congo war? Fuck yeah.
>
> Were Pygmies vicitims of these acts? It would be astonishing if they were not.
>
> Were pygmies more often victims than other people? Since they were caught between two opposing out-of-control armies, it would be hard to see how they could not be.
So…would eating a pygmy be like… a light snack? Something like a pygmy mcNugget?
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252/4 "2012-03-09T13:24:54Z")
Cecil answers the question are pygmies really human? No one thought to ask Cecil if they taste like chicken. 😉
> **[Are Pygmies really human?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343625/are-pygmies-really-human)**
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252/5 "2012-03-09T14:54:05Z")
> [@Rich\_G7subs](#):
>
> So…would eating a pygmy be like… a light snack? Something like a pygmy mcNugget?
lunchables.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252/6 "2012-03-09T15:37:38Z")
I remember news stories about the Congo war. One of the major concerns was “bush meat”, that the armies were shooting and eating anything that moved, including endangered species that had notlearned to avoid humans. Another bunch of stories mentioned pygmies as the side dish sometimes. One story I recall was someone complaining that the pygmies were conscripted to bring in bush meat, and as an incentive, if they didn’t make their quota by hunting they became the entree.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252/7 "2012-03-09T16:55:21Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> as an incentive, if they didn’t make their quota by hunting they became the entree.
“Pour encourager les autres.”
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252/8 "2012-03-09T16:59:43Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> I remember news stories about the Congo war. One of the major concerns was “bush meat”, that the armies were shooting and eating anything that moved, including endangered species that had notlearned to avoid humans. Another bunch of stories mentioned pygmies as the side dish sometimes. One story I recall was someone complaining that the pygmies were conscripted to bring in bush meat, and as an incentive, if they didn’t make their quota by hunting they became the entree.
I presume those armies hired short-order cooks?
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252/9 "2012-03-09T23:02:08Z")
> [@Malthus](#):
>
> I presume those armies hired short-order cooks?
I guess long pork was not on the menu.
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### Author:  [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-of-pygmies/615252/10 "2012-03-09T23:35:21Z")
> [@Blake](#):
>
> Is cannibalism widespread in Africa? Fuck yeah.
>
> Were acts of barbarity, including cannibalism, common in the Congo war? Fuck yeah.
>
> Were Pygmies vicitims of these acts? It would be astonishing if they were not.
>
> Were pygmies more often victims than other people? Since they were caught between two opposing out-of-control armies, it would be hard to see how they could not be.
You’re the first person I’ve seen claim cannibalism is widespread in Africa(unless you mean [Albino Africans live in fear after witch-doctor butchery | Tanzania | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/16/tanzania-humanrights) \