# Cannibalism question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 6, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-question/347317 "2006-03-06T23:35:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-question/347317/41 "2006-04-05T16:55:09Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > So what are the “choice cuts” of a human? The rump? Ribs? Drumstick? I don’t know anything about butchery and very little about anatomy, but I imagine it would be the calves. Those are nice and thick. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-question/347317/42 "2006-04-06T08:27:18Z")
Quercus, I’ll see if I can dig up a reference for Maori’s keeping slaves as food. It’s not exactly controverisal, but it’s hard to find via Google because the search terms all seem to be swamped by Christian websites saying how Christianity can take the credit foir ending tehpractice. Neither of us would accept that as a reference. I’ll see what I can find next trip to the library. These slaves weren’t kept long term, but they were kept for several years. A point to remember is that meat was a special dish in Maori culture and a requirement for various festivals. As such it was worth preserving humans as food simply because it was easier than going out and declaring war to get freshmeat for a holiday or important visitor. Basically the Maori treated human captives the way we might treat veal or caviar. It’s never going to be energetically efficient but it’s a food delicacy so the cost is worth it. Sailboat, Yep those are crappy refernces. I didn’t even look at where they came from because the relevant material they contain is so uncontroverisal. I simply put [canniblism egypt] and [cannibalism congo] into Google and selected the first sites returned precisely because the information is so widley reported by reputable sources. You can readily find reputable refernces for yourself with the same search terms. eg [http://classweb.gmu.edu/dbitler/SS-Cannibalism.pdf](http://classweb.gmu.edu/dbitler/SS-Cannibalism.pdf) [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/apocalypse/transcript.shtml](http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/apocalypse/transcript.shtml) [http://www.un.org/apps/news/storyAr.asp?NewsID=7882&Cr=DR&Cr1=Congo](http://www.un.org/apps/news/storyAr.asp?NewsID=7882&Cr=DR&Cr1=Congo) [http://www.monuc.org/News.aspx?newsID=432](http://www.monuc.org/News.aspx?newsID=432) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2661365.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2661365.stm) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-question/347317/43 "2006-04-07T07:05:20Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Quercus, > I’ll see if I can dig up a reference for Maori’s keeping slaves as food. That [heretical.com](http://heretical.com) site has some references [here](http://www.heretical.com/cannibal/nzealand.html) . While I think the site owner is a little dodgy, there are actual book/page references given, so if someone wants to follow it up, they’re welcome to, otherwise the references should stand. Anything else would be kinda _ad hominem_, no? Also, I think, Maori slavekeeping is often referenced with respect to their (European-assisted) invasion of the Chatham Islands and virtual wiping-out of the Moriori inhabitants. [This Site](http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel041103.asp) , while it has its own agenda to push, also gives its references. I think this quote would be _apropos_: “Morioris were taken prisoners, the women and children were bound, and many of these, together with the men, were killed and eaten, so that the corpses lay scattered in the woods and over the plains. Those who were spared from death were **herded like swine, and even killed from year to year**.” [My Bolding] **Blake** , I may have been chapping your ass in the “evidence for mankind” thread, but here, you’ve been spot-on, and in the face of some provocation, too. Kudos. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-question/347317/44 "2006-04-11T10:39:37Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > OK Blake, since you seem to be alone on the field of battle (for the moment), can I ask for a cite on keeping humans as food animals? Vayda, A.P., 1961. “Maori prisoners and slaves in the nineteenth century” Ethnohistory 8:2 “They [Maori slaves] were individually owned, mainly by the leading chiefs, and their masters ahd the power of life and death over them. The slaves were liable to be killed in order to serve as human sacrifice or as the relish in a feast.” Vayda, A.P., 1960. “Maori women and Maori cannibalism” Man 60 “…John White has noted a distinction between the flesh of enemies killed in battle and the flesh of a slave killed outside of war. Women, according to white, could eat the latter but not the former.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibalism-question/347317.md?page=2)