Cannibals All (or: You Eat What You Are)



Most forms of life on earth, including humans, lack the ability to
manufacture internally all the chemicals needed to sustain themselves.
To obtain these substances, they eat other creatures that can
manufacture them. This happens all the way up the food chain. At
the top we have ourselves, who eat just about anything, including
vertebrates, crustaceans, plants, fruits, insects, the lot.
Put differently, we eat our fellows who eat their fellows. And if
that's not
cannibalism,
please explain what is, while I take time out to have some shrimp,
mushrooms, and a nice pork chop.



Seriously, the best food, or at least the best protein, is that
which is most like our own. Of course, eating others of our kind
gives rise to social problems, and is rare as a result, but it
happens. In times past, among some of the Pacific Islands peoples,
since a butchered human very much resembled a butchered pig, it
was referred to as
"long pig".
I presume these cannibals ate only their enemies, not their family members,
no matter how tasty they may have looked. Most of us have accepted
that humans are precious in the sight of God, while ordinary pig,
or "short pig", is OK nutrition.



Disturbingly, the fact remains that protein is best when nearest
our own, but religious leaders, politicians, and relatives are
against what this implies. Long pig is nutritionally ideal, however
stick to the shorter variety. Next time you're stranded
on a desert island with a small group of people, and you're tempted to change
your ethical stance, ask your priest or lawyer first.
Fish is good.