# Cannibals prefer Chinese take-away? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 28, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052 "2005-11-28T14:43:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/1 "2005-11-28T14:43:41Z")
When European gold diggers in Australia went into the jungle they would take a chinaman to walk in the lead and another one at the end. That way, when the cannibals attacked they would snatch up the Chinese and leave the Europeans alone. The cannibals favoured Chinese meat as it was less salty and they could keep them fresh longer by hanging them up in the trees by their long hair. True or false? Anything to it? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/2 "2005-11-28T14:49:39Z")
Of course not, because they’d just be hungry again in an hour. Yeah, that was an obvious joke, but somebody had to get it out of the way. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/3 "2005-11-28T14:52:17Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > True or false? Anything to it? Don’t know but I recommend you start with a cite of where you saw or heard this. I was not even aware that Australia ever had cannibals. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/4 "2005-11-28T15:00:25Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Don’t know but I recommend you start with a cite of where you saw or heard this. I was not even aware that Australia ever had cannibals. I’ve seen it repeated two times by different people on NewsNet and once on a blog discussion thread. I don’t know if it’s a myth through and through, just a joke, or there is some grain of truth in there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/5 "2005-11-28T15:01:48Z")
Perhaps it was Australian golddiggeres in New Guinea. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/6 "2005-11-28T15:03:14Z")
Why would Chinese human flesh be less salty? I would expect the salt content of human flesh to be more or less constant across the globe (except perhaps in cases where the individual is actually _dying_ of some electrolyte deficiency). ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/7 "2005-11-28T15:12:27Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Why would Chinese human flesh be less salty? I would expect the salt content of human flesh to be more or less constant across the globe (except perhaps in cases where the individual is actually _dying_ of some electrolyte deficiency). On account of their diet supposedly. I’ve umm… heard umm… that other umm… human bodily fluids umm… definitely change taste with the diet. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/8 "2005-11-28T15:15:14Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > On account of their diet supposedly. I’ve umm… heard umm… that other umm… human bodily fluids umm… definitely change taste with the diet. Sure, but that’s not usually salt-related - AFAIK, the salt concentration in the human body has to remain pretty constant, or you just get seriously ill because things like kidney and nerve functions stop working properly. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/9 "2005-11-28T15:31:05Z")
Danes are a revolting people. They have a snack which you can buy in all small shops and food stores, which is dried or grilled pigs skin. It’s eaten like other sane people would candy, chips or peanuts. The taste comes from when the pig is about to be slaughtered and it is scared shitless and it sweats like a, like a rapist (to keep to the Australian touch – when I was in Australia, a sports commentator had to face some very harsh words for having made this comment on air about a player during a rugby match. “That mr. Jones, he’s sweating like a rapist not”. Australians are pretty revolting too). The pigs sweat permeates the pigskin and gives it the flavour the Danes think so highly of. Perhaps the Chinese scared less easily that Europeans. Or at least sweat less, so the skin would be nice and crisp but without the nasty European salty taste. You always also hear Chinese thinks Europeans stink because they sweat so much. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/10 "2005-11-28T15:31:27Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > When European gold diggers in Australia went into the jungle they would take a chinaman to walk in the lead and another one at Dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/11 "2005-11-28T15:45:14Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Danes are a revolting people. They have a snack which you can buy in all small shops and food stores, which is dried or grilled pigs skin. It’s eaten like other sane people would candy, chips or peanuts. Brits are also revolting people - we call those Pork Scratchings. Delicious. As for taking a Chinese person with them; it wouldn’t be cost-efficient to feed and water, plus keep watch on the prisoner (I presume the take-up rate for the paid job of Cannibal-decoy-sacrifice would be poor). And why would the cannibals stop at just eating the chinese person, when a Euro-Asiatic buffet is on offer? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/12 "2005-11-28T16:17:34Z")
Pork scratchings are great; it’s just crispy skin; same as crispy bacon rind, just a different shape. The salt is added during manufacture. I can understand why people might have reservations about eating it though. I just plain don’t believe the bits about sweaty/fearful pigs etc in this connection; that whole post seems like it could do with an infusion of… welll… _fact_. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/13 "2005-11-28T16:25:07Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Pork scratchings are great; it’s just crispy skin; same as crispy bacon rind, just a different shape. The salt is added during manufacture. > I can understand why people might have reservations about eating it though. > > I just plain don’t believe the bits about sweaty/fearful pigs etc in this connection; that whole post seems like it could do with an infusion of… welll… _fact_. This coming from a guy called **Mangetout**. 😛 Me, I was not aware Australia had any cannibals either. Or jungles near the goldfields. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/14 "2005-11-28T16:26:28Z")
A few problems with this: [ul] [li]Places where there were gold rushes in Australia were not jungles. There aren’t any real jungles in Australia, but the gold rushes tended to be in relatively arid and/or temperate regions.[/li][li]By the time the gold rushes took place, the Aboriginal population of those areas had been depleted.[/li][li]Even if there was a significant Aboriginal population, it would be more cost-effective to use guns to defend against them. [/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/15 "2005-11-28T17:00:45Z")
What the OP posts is extremely important. It’s a modern example of a shibboleth - “A [belief] that distinguishes people of one group or class from those of another.” IOW, if you’ll believe this you’ll believe anything. Do you realize how valuable that makes you to scammers? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/16 "2005-11-28T17:19:28Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > The taste comes from when the pig is about to be slaughtered and it is scared shitless and it sweats like a, like a rapist… I thought pigs do not have sweat glands. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/17 "2005-11-28T18:33:59Z")
\ Let’s see how this sweats out in Great Debates. Moved. \ And **Revtim** , you owe me a new monitor. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/18 "2005-11-28T19:01:39Z")
But if they put a Chinese person in the lead, wouldn’t they run a risk of becoming disoriented? ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/19 "2005-11-28T19:08:42Z")
Alright. I suppose I didn’t think it had enough meat on it to a GD. This cannibal seems to agree that europeans are more salty (but far better than pig - I have to look on the small print, next time I pick up a bag of pork scratchings): > [@ex-cannibals](#): > > "Like the natives of New Guinea, they said it was far better than pig; they also declared that the legs, arms and palms of the hands were the greatest delicacies, and that women and children tasted best. The brains and eyes were especially good. They would never eat a man who had died a natural death. They had eaten white man; **he was salty** and fat, but he was good, though not so good as “Fiji man.” [Wanderings among South Sea Savages and in Borneo and the Philippines](http://gutenberg.kk.dk/etext01/wasss10.txt) On the other hand, there seems to be general agreement amongst cannibals than human flesh is too salty. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052/20 "2005-11-28T19:23:23Z")
These Australian cannibals also find European whites too salty - they also thinks the chinaman is quite tasty, and apparently less salty - : > [@A brute rubbing his belly dreamingly](#): > > These aborigines say that the white man’s flesh is salty and occasions nausea. A Chinaman they consider as good for eating as a black man [Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine](http://www.zoraskingdom.freeserve.co.uk/pervapp3.htm) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cannibals-prefer-chinese-take-away/333052.md?page=2)