Curator
human, past
Early-Anthropocene
Hoard of canned human meat
Various locations
c. 0002210s - 0002729 CE
Cannibalism was a common response to mass starvation in the early Anthropocene. Too many people, living too long, with too few sustainable food sources challenged the ethics of eating meat. Commercially produced human meat products flooded the market, with well-known brands competing for market share. This was considered ethical behaviour at the time as it helped deal with chronic under-funding of human end-of-life care.
A Good Fat Child, c.0002729 CE
Hufu, c.0002300 CE
Long Pig, c.0002319 CE
Papa Songs’ Soup, c.0002144 CE
Baba Yaga’s Choice, c.0002210s CE
Strange Fruit Casseroles, c.0002270s CE
Donner Party Food, c.0002300s CE
Wendy Meat, c.0002290s CE
Class Enemy Meat, c.0002230s CE
IMoB 2109.7.1-9.
Curator
human, various time
‘A good fat child’ brand Human Meat
Ireland
c. 0001729 CE
'Fore/hind quarter, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome
food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, boyled, a fricassée, or a ragout. A well nurs’d year old child rendered for a good table offered in sale to persons of quality throughout the kingdom, preventing a burden to parents and country, making them beneficial to the publick'.
'People are the riches of a nation’ – Jonathan Swift, 0001729
‘Hufu’ brand Human Meat
United States
c. 0002005-0002006 CE
Hufu is a tofu-based human meat substitute for 'cannibals who want to quit'. A vegan alternative to traditional human meat, with a rich flavour, this product contains less than half of the calories of human flesh. It is consumed by vainglorious humans trying to lose weight, to avoid ending up ‘canned’ themselves.
‘Long Pig’ brand Human Meat
French Polynesia
c. 0001919 CE
This processed prime human red muscle tissue to feed 'aristocratic appetites for the swinish multitude'. 'Upon it once stood the temple and about it were enacted the rites of mystery, when the priests and elders fed on the 'long pig that speaks,' when the drums beat till dawn and wild dances maddened the blood.' - Frederick O’Brien, 0001919
‘Papa Songs’ Soup’ brand Human Meat
Neo Seoul, Nea So Copros
c.0002144 CE
A protein rich drink made from exalted fabricant cadavers. Nea So Copros believe by feeding us to ourselves we can feed ourselves. ‘the weak are meat and the strong do eat’ - David Mitchell, 0002004
Curator
human, various time
‘KAPAI KAI TANGATA’ brand Human Meat
c.0002200s CE
‘A traditional meal of defeated enemy flesh’, ‘contains human body and soul’.
The routine commercial appropriation of indigenous traditions of cannibalism was rife in the early unregulated human meat product industry.
‘Baba Yaga’s Choice’ brand Human Meat
c.0002210s CE
‘Sugar-Candy Human Veal’, ‘be they fat or be they lean’, ‘Gingerbread-fed’.
Early manufacturers used familiar narratives to normalise the consumption of commercial human meat products for wary consumers.
‘Strange Fruit Casseroles’ brand Human Meat
c.0002270s CE
‘Well-Hung Anthro-Meat in rich sweet tangy gravy ‘, ‘Gluten free’
Meat brands were often associated with popular ancient songs, which provided instant consumer recognition and increased sales.
‘Donner Party Food’ brand Human Meat
c.0002300s CE
‘Home Style Slow Cooked Human Stew’, ‘Explorer hi-Cal Quality Food’, ‘The BEST fuel for today’s emigrants’.
A product aimed at the increasingly profitable traveller/explorer/nomad market
‘Wendy Meat’ brand Human Meat
c.0002290s CE
‘offered voluntarily from my own body’, ‘The ethical choice in human eating’, ‘Cellgen non-sentient tissue’.
The rise in ethically sourced non-cadaver lab-based human meat saw an explosion of individually branded meat products. ‘Wendy Meat’ was the first artisan product to break through into the mass market.
‘Class enemy meat’ brand Human Meat
c.0002230s CE
‘in red bean sauce’, ‘Celebrate the Triumph of the Revolution’, ‘Devour the enemies of the people’, ‘Corrupt cadres will not consume themselves’, ‘Prepared with revolutionary fervour’.
Consuming the enemies of the people was considered to be an essential patriotic duty to protect the hard fought gains of the revolutionary state.
