Cannibalism during a SHTF scenario - would you eat or die?

In nature - Cannibalism usually occurs when food access is bad.

This being said, the movie ALIVE based on a real story depicts a scenario of cannibalism to survive with great detail. The "food" wasn`t even cooked but eaten raw/frozen.

Do you really think other of you same kind wouldn`t be on the menu when things got really bad? Until population goes way down and people are able to sustain themselves i believe this is a real issue.

Your security measures would be necessary not only to keep people from stealing your stuff but also to keep you off the menu. Survival of the fittest - or the one with the best skills. In other words - people with military training would be some of the ones that endure - especially if everyone in the end resorts to cannibalism.

The craziest people would know to what length they would go to survive - this is why everyone else should also know.

The thread itself grosses me out, but in the end - this would be a part of a really bad SHTF scenario.

I mean... If there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE...

Chow down! You better run!

Almost anybody would if they seriously needed too; and the body would make it pretty hard for you not too because survival is an instinct.

reply to post by br0ker


I don't know a single person IRL who has ever been even close to a situation where they would have to make that call.

People starve to death every single day in Africa - thousands, apparently - and never become cannibals. So I'm guessing it's against our nature to do so. Would you watch your child starve to death if cannibalism was a viable option for you?

I am allergic to human...

reply to post by Schkeptick
Maybe cannibalism is the answer to poverty lol

The real question is can/will you kill a human for food?

If it came to cannibalism, you're not going to find some fresh, refrigerated human body somewhere. You'd have to kill someone before cannibalism became an option.

And you can kill only those around you, or who's available at the time. What if it's only friends? Only family?

Nope, I'd rather eat bugs and dirt.

Originally posted by KnowYourEnemy
reply to post by Schkeptick

 

Maybe cannibalism is the answer to poverty lol

I am not sure what you "lol'ed" about in that statement.

Originally posted by TsukiLunar

Originally posted by KnowYourEnemy
reply to post by Schkeptick

 

Maybe cannibalism is the answer to poverty lol

I am not sure what you "lol'ed" about in that statement.

Well a lot of people think theres nothing that can be done about it

I would rather join any ancestors I have at the bottom of Beachy Head
(otherwise known as the "Cliffs of Despair")

ETA: just to expand on the above.. this would be my course of actions if there was no meat, no fish, no gulls, grasses, seaweed or samphire left to eat. so if there was no food but human flesh left then I would rather take that one last step and join my ancestors.

Originally posted by MysticPearl
The real question is can/will you kill a human for food?

If it came to cannibalism, you're not going to find some fresh, refrigerated human body somewhere. You'd have to kill someone before cannibalism became an option.

And you can kill only those around you, or who's available at the time. What if it's only friends? Only family?

Well, you can turn it around. If someone wanted to kill you, and you survived - they did not. Would you look at them as a piece of meat when you were about to starve?

And setting traps would make you distant from the process - leaving a fresh, refrigerated "whatever" is in the trap.

Jeez... I`m totally grossed out by my own thread. Guess I would be one of those dying in the aftermath with lots of dead "meat" lying around.

It would depend a lot on who the person is. Family.. no. Friends.. probably not.

There are some people, however, that I would have absolutely no qualms about bashing their head and eating them. Preferably cooked, but raw if necessary.

I really always wondered what human flesh or meat would taste like. Flesh would probably be nasty but I think the meat might just be like most other meat and depending on if the person worked out would determine how lean the meat was. So with all that (probably already too much haha) said, I would honestly think about eating another person. The only thing that I don't think I'd do is kill to eat that person. I would wait until the person is already dead, of course this would bring other issues to the table. For instance what did that person die from? Could I contract a disease? And so on. If no one around had died and there was no food, I'd simply not eat and/or die. As it is I probably put too much thought into it.

reply to post by br0ker


Personally, I wouldn't. No matter how bad it got. But that's just me.

Say it came down to a point where I'm nearing death due to starvation and the group I am with has already begun discussion of cannibalism. I would say to the group, "Help me end this quickly, then use me if you can to continue on."

Now let's say the tables are turned and someone says that to me. I know I could never eat a person, but let's say I have starving children with me. As well as I know myself, I know I would eventually make myself stomach it enough to start chopping the person up. However, I could never give it to the kids raw, I would find some way to cook it.

But even after that, I don't know how long it would take, but I would eventually get so depressed about feeding a human being to children that I would eventually off myself.


Now thinking a bit further ahead. I think that sociopaths would become the majority.

Not sure what I would do, I think it's one of those situations where you'll find out what you're made of when it happens. A family member or friend I'd have to say no, a stranger... well circumstances and all but I think it would all come down to how dire the situation was. I'm certainly not against cannibalism but I don't want my loved ones getting eaten. If it absolutely came down to it you do what you need to do with my family, I'll do the same with yours. They would want us to live, I know I'd want my family to live no matter what. Whether we could talk about it later or not is irrelevant, living is what matters.

reply to post by N3k9Ni


You make a really good point I had not taken into consideration. It would be odd eating family or friends. If it did get bad enough to have to eat others - they might be the best candidates as I think it is more common to know if a family member or friend has any sort of disease. I just wouldn't be able to swallow the thought of, "hey, grandma doesn't taste too bad."

reply to post by br0ker


Star and flag for a tasty topic.
I guess I would eat well.
Consider this, for about the past 10 years alot of keyboard commandos have been made, not born but made.
With all of this exercise neglect, I'd imagine it would make our own meat marble with fat just like those prime cuts of beef we love so well.
So, stay at the keyboard all is well!!
I imagine the healthy folk would be like eating a rabbit, you might starve.
I would eat anything I had to in order to survive, it's what we humans do, terribly inhuman things.
And really, in a soup or chili or casserole, would you be able to tell it from pork?
If you can answer that last part, I'd suggest there is a reason why.

I'm not sure what I'd do. Eat at McDonald's tomorrow just in case.

Thanks.

I think the real question here is will I at least have ketchup for dip?

I couldn't eat you dry and raw, i'm sorry.