Tasting Human Flesh: Taboos and Self-Cannibalism
Exploring the taboo and history of cannibalism, this video raises the question of what human flesh tastes like, comparing it to veal. It also discusses self-cannibalism and our constant consumption of ourselves.
00:00:00 Can eating your own boogers be beneficial for your immune system? Exploring the concept of self-cannibalism and the taboo of cannibalism in human history.
👃 Eating your own boogers can be beneficial for your immune system.
🍽️ Human meat has been consumed in times of famine and out of curiosity or art.
❌ Cannibalism is considered taboo and goes against the dignity of a human being.
00:01:34 Exploring the controversial topic of cannibalism, this video discusses instances where people have consumed human flesh and raises the question of what human flesh would taste like.
Artists and individuals have cooked and consumed human flesh, both legally and illegally.
There are distinctions between taste and flavor - taste is the chemical reaction in taste buds, while flavor is a more complex experience involving smell and information from the trigeminal nerve.
The question of what human flesh tastes like remains unanswered.
00:03:09 The late William Seabrook's description of human meat compared it to good, fully developed veal - mild and without highly characteristic tastes. This video explores what human tastes like.
🍖 According to a description by William Seabrook, human meat tastes like fully developed veal with a mild and good flavor.
🤔 The taste of human meat is not strongly defined or characterized, unlike other meats such as goat, high game, or pork.
🍽️ Although no recipes or flavor recommendations were provided, the taste of human meat is accurately comparable to veal.
00:04:43 The human palate prefers a small number of recipes, as shown by a flavor network analysis. North American and Western European dishes share flavor compounds, while East Asian cuisine avoids them. Authentic ingredients contribute to regional taste palettes.
👅 Human cuisine only features a small number of recipes compared to the possible combinations of flavors.
🔬 Researchers created a flavor network to analyze the combination of ingredients and their flavor molecules in different cuisines.
🌍 North American and Western European dishes tend to combine ingredients with shared flavor compounds, while East Asian cuisine avoids them.
00:06:16 Toothpaste with sodium lauryl sulfate suppresses sweet receptors, making orange juice taste bitter. Our bodies process ingested elements into new bodies, shaping our senses and memories.
👅 Toothpaste can affect the taste of orange juice due to the presence of sodium lauryl sulfate.
🧬 The elements and molecules we ingest become a part of our body through a process governed by DNA.
🍊 Cats cannot taste sweetness but can taste ATP, which may indicate the taste of meat to them.
00:07:50 Our bodies constantly consume pieces of ourselves, like dead cells, through swallowing and digestion. But sea squirts take self-cannibalism to the extreme by digesting their own nervous system. They eat their own brains.
👅 We are constantly in contact with and tasting human through our mouths.
🐟 Sea squirts engage in self-cannibalism by digesting their own nervous system.
🧠 The sea squirt's self-cannibalism suggests that the evolution of the brain was driven by the need for movement.
00:09:25 Exploring the concept of self-cannibalism, this video discusses how we consume our own body weight every three months, making us similar to the ouroboros.
Swallowing and digesting our own body weight every three months
Being the mythical ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail
We are what we eat and also things that we eat
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