# Does human flesh really taste like pork? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414 "2003-03-06T03:51:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/1 "2003-03-06T03:51:25Z")
Does human flesh really taste like pork? ---
**Author:** ![Davebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Davebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davebear)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/2 "2003-03-06T03:54:19Z")
According to many second-hand accounts, yes. I’ve never seen a first-hand account. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/3 "2003-03-06T10:30:45Z")
The second-hand accounts I’ve heard all said it tastes like chicken. No first-hand accounts here either, sorry. Why not give it a go and report the results? Fighting ignorance and all that. ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/4 "2003-03-06T10:39:08Z")
Having tried a vast array of different meats in South Africa (not human, I hasten to add), I can declare that almost every different animal has its own unique taste, and so comparing human to chicken or pork would be pretty much like saying that chicken tastes _like_ pork. ---
**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:** [March 6, 2003, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/5 "2003-03-06T11:11:32Z")
The diet of the animal contributes at least a little to the flavour of the meat (corn fed chickens taste different to those fed on other grains/foods - farmed trout fed on pellets tastes different to wild trout - some people claim that bacon from pigs fed on fish meal tastes fishy). Pigs are very broadly omnivorous(like humans) and are often fed on the same foods as humans (or the leftovers thereof), so maybe that is part of the reason. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/6 "2003-03-06T12:45:30Z")
yes - didn’t islanders often refer to whitemen as long-pigs - see [http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/s/s848so/sseas11.html](http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/s/s848so/sseas11.html) though that may have been because of their smell as well ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/7 "2003-03-06T12:57:01Z")
go to [manbeef.com](http://manbeef.com) ---
**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:** [March 6, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/8 "2003-03-06T13:03:11Z")
No, [manbeef.com](http://manbeef.com) is not ‘for real’ ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/9 "2003-03-06T15:36:51Z")
Well, according to Paul Theroux, humans taste like Spam, which is a pork product. He got that little nugget from formerly cannibalistic natives in the Pacific islands. Of course, he admitted to Cecil that he made that little nugget up, too, so there’s no help there. ---
**Author:** ![Junchbailey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@Junchbailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junchbailey)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/10 "2003-03-06T16:50:39Z")
For some odd reason it tastes alot loke soylent green. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/11 "2003-03-06T17:19:36Z")
Hijack; If pig meat is pork, and cow meat is beef, and deer meat is venison, what is man meat called? ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/12 "2003-03-06T18:01:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sauron \* > \*\*Well, according to Paul Theroux, humans taste like Spam, which is a pork product. He got that little nugget from formerly cannibalistic natives in the Pacific islands. > > Of course, he admitted to Cecil that he made that little nugget up, too, so there’s no help there. \*\* The column in question, which includes Theroux’s joke, [“What’s really in Spam?”](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_229.html). ---
**Author:** ![TaxGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TaxGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaxGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/13 "2003-03-06T18:18:52Z")
**Enola** : I call it “delicious.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/14 "2003-03-06T18:19:02Z")
> [@](#): > > For some odd reason it tastes alot loke soylent green. Now that’s odd. Why would human meat taste like a vegetable product? There’s no meat at all in Soylent Green. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/15 "2003-03-06T18:23:16Z")
If you can find firsthand accounts by Lewis Keseberg, you might have your answer. He was a member of the Donner party willing to talk about eating human flesh. I don’t know that he ever said what it tasted like, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/16 "2003-03-06T18:28:17Z")
Save an animal, eat a PETA member? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/17 "2003-03-06T18:35:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Junchbailey \* > \*\*For some odd reason it tastes alot loke soylent green. \*\* Really? Did you eat a vegetarian? I thought more like wild pork 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/18 "2003-03-06T18:45:09Z")
What do the people who practice placenta eating say the placenta tastes like? ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/19 "2003-03-06T18:46:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Enola Straight \* > \*\*Hijack;If pig meat is pork, and cow meat is beef, and deer meat is venison, what is man meat called? \*\* Well, since generally the ‘meat’ names come from the French (the Norman conquerors just ate the food, only their Saxon subjects dealt with the actual animals), I guess it would be something along the lines of ‘homme’. That said, there’s probably no word for it, because it’s not commonly talked about. ---
**Author:** ![booka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@booka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booka)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414/20 "2003-03-06T18:47:13Z")
Why, yes it does. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-human-flesh-really-taste-like-pork/159414.md?page=2)