Who would you eat?

Not many of us believe any longer that we are what we eat, but, nevertheless, what we eat remains as ever a matter of geographical, moral and socio-economic sensitivity. I leave aside any religious shibboleths as read, permanently, for fear of ending up permanently - as dead, and simply focus on what any globe-trotting punter might lick his or her lips over soon after the tummy rumbles.

In keeping with most of le monde Anglo-Saxon, it's certainly not horse for me. You can now ignore the sushi ex-Derby runner above, snapped (sic) in a Tokio restaurant. Recently, I missed out on UK news this and that so it won't be long before the spectre of the Korean hotdog raises its beguiling head again.

But for me, it's personal. You see, for years Tish has avoided veal. In practice, this means that I avoid it also because it would spoil her meal to watch me devour baby cow. She once had duck à l'orange, I gave a little quack-quack on returning from the bar - she hurled a glass of wine at me. Luckily, it was a Bourgogne Blanc and so didn't stain.

But if you think about it, this is only skating over the thin surface glaze of gastronomic reticence. Remember those poor sods who crashed in the Andes back in the early seventies. Some of them hit the headlines for eating their fellow distressed passengers. Best-sellers and film rights followed. What is not so well known is that some years later (1978) two researchers, Paulo Alvarez and Horst Xamingohe of the Facultad de Psicolgia at Universidad de Bueonos Aires, published a paper Alive! or Dead: Perceptions of Survival in which they assessed the eating attitudes re survival of a disparate group of volunteers. Their conclusions were startling:
1 None of the group studied said they would be able to eat in extremis other family members (not so surprising when we keep the incest taboo in mind);
2 Only 2 of the group said they would consider eating their enemies (the inhibition caused by the initial dislike);
3 Most of the group who said they would eat human flesh to survive agreed they would be able to eat their friends on the basis that their friends would understand and return the favour, por favor!

The message is quite clear to me. Don't do anything, go anywhere, welcome anyone, if your friends are involved!

Chums bite back!