Don’t carnivores taste worse? I suggest India before the British got there. More likely to find a vegetarian - just be sure to pick a high-class child, for the peak of flavor, marbling, and non-toughness.
Why does a Time-traveling-cannibal version of the Blackadder II episode “Chains” come to mind? 
I’m thinking premodern mid-caste Polynesians might be a good bet, too. Clean ample water supply, a healthy amount of both protein and fat in the diet, lots of fish and veggies, fairly easy lifestyle so nicely marbled without being too fatty. Drug-free and chemical-free, no communicable diseases to be all that wary of, easy enough to pick one off and blame it on some shark-god who turned into a half-man just long enough to take a rightful sacrifice…
Eww - why not just dip a hamburger in raw sewage? It’d be a heck of a lot cheaper, and you can stick around the 21st century (and have access to modern emergency rooms).
Cities prior to modern sanitation were rife with disease - if you eat pre-modern city dwellers, you’ll be rife with disease, too.
Farmers had slaves too, though. Maybe hit up a villa?
For Victorian London, Mrs. Lovett has some advice:
I can always come back to this time if I need medical treatment.
But… it’s an interesting question how many diseases can be passed on through injestion, as opposed other means.
I’m gonna have to think about a redesign, to reduce my contact with my food, until it is well cooked and ready to eat. I’m thinking the best weapon would be a powered, barbed harpoon, attached to a cable and winch, mounted inside a walk-in freezer. So, I would basically fire remotely and just haul them back into the freezer, where they would wait for later preparation. And freezing would be the first stage of decontamination. Hopefully, thorough cooking later would be sufficient to complete the process.
The real answer is “not many”. Most pathogenic microorganisms are killed off by stomach acid. Hepetitis is probably the most realistic threat, that one can be transmitted through consumption. HIV may infect by eating it if you have gingivitis or cuts in your mouth or esophagus. Kurdu is caused by prions, not really “organisms” exactly, and likewise seems more contagious through the skin than the gut. (Prions are just bits of protein, not even as complex as viruses.) Other stuff that makes you sick from ingestion is spoilage related, like listeria, or poor-handling related, like e. coli. If you handle you meat well and eat it promptly, the risks from those are minimal.
So the thing is, there aren’t many diseases you can get from eating something, even humans, but the ones you *can *get are real doozies!
Why do I love this message board?
Threads like this are why I love this message board.
That is such a nice compliment, I pledge not to harpoon you and drag you into my meat locker.
Don’t you dare kill and eat anyone in my Darling Marcie’s genetic line.
If you can manage to prevent the birth of my ex, you’ll have my eternal gratitude.
I think you have come up with The Food Network’s next big hit show.
You might want to test the Romans for lead before consuming. I understand they used lead salts to preserve wine.
Well, Spanky told Uncle George in the Wild Man from Borneo bit: “Are you gonna eat me now? I pro’lly won’t taste very good, 'cause my mom says I’m spoiled rotten.” My only experience with cannibals.
A time travelling cannibal would likely want a sampling of Louis XIV palace courtesans, a spicy Ming dynasty forbidden city royal concubine, perhaps an Inca from pre-Pizzaro Pachamac, and for dessert, or course, a Nubian Princess.
[Banky Edwards] What’s a Nubian? [/Banky Edwards]
They could just do that on Iron Chef.
Today’s secret ingredient… Phil!
Chefs should make good meals. They’ve eaten all kinds of interesting things and most are fairly plump to boot.
Don’t try eating a jester. They taste funny.
Make sure to get both. Ref Futurama’s “All’s well that …”
Dude!
Don’t go to the past for snacks,munch in the future
messing with causality is not worth the all the sweet meats from here to 10:000 BC
thanks in advance
Future you
p.s. don’t eat me
So THAT’S what happened to the neanderthals!