the Compelling and Exhilirating Nature of Myths: Does ritual cannibalism still exist?
By Jake Cuttler For some cannibals, a human dinner is a personal rite performed in solitude, maybe accompanied by lighting a few candles and listening to smooth jazz. But for others, a brainbecue or a groin-and-cheese burrito is a vehicle for social bonding, religiosity, or commemoration. In the case of the South Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea, which practiced ritual cannibalism until recent decades, eating items like mothers and fathers provided a valuable source of protein but also led to deaths in epidemic proportions. A scarcity of foods with protein is the purported reason for the advent of cannibalism among the Fore, a subgroup of about 8,000 people in the highlands of New Guinea. Traditional crops like sweet potatoes were low in protein and the selection of edible animals like mice and frogs was unappetizing. The adopted practice, then, consisted of the following: after the death of a tribesperson, women would dismember the corpse by detaching the arms and feet, removing muscle
