Disgustingly Gross

DISGUSTINGLY GROSS

MODE FOR COOKING MAN

An 1870 London Daily News Item gives an account of the eating of a French soldier by Kanaks cannibals.

If anyone of us looks to be eaten by cannibals, he may wish to be informed just how he will be cooked. The savages who might eat him are by no means devoid of refinements in culinary disposition.

Sometime in 1870 some French soldiers were taken prisoners by the Kanaks tribe and one of the Frenchmen was killed and eaten.

The victim is first decapitated, the body is then hung by the feet for an hour to allow the blood to run out. While waiting for this the cannibals are digging a yard wide hole in the ground a yard and a half deep that is lined with stones , then in the midst is built a fire. When the fire has burned the wood and glows with the heat, more stones are added.

The man is cleaned out, divided into foot long pieces, hand and feet are thrown away as worthless, he foot long pieces are placed on large tree leaves such as found in tropical forest, surrounded with coconut, bananas, and other plants known for their delicious flavors, then wrapped tightly, the fire is removed from the stone pit, the wrapped meat placed in the hot stones and left to cook for another hour.

The tribal women do not join with the warriors in this feast, only men are allowed to partake of so rare a delicacy.

Abstract: The Star Democrat of Easton, Maryland, taken from the London Daily Times was the source.