Not Me And Dat Eating Thing
My dear friend Hazel in Barbados often says: “When it comes to eating, I ent busy!” Like her, I feel the same. Well, for the most. I’m not a greedy girl and don’t accept service from any and everybody, but I do enjoy some good eating. Anyone who knows me is aware of my passion for the culinary arts and I’m especially thrilled when I meet a man that’s equally passionate. There are a few things as sexy as a man versed in this area. Ever since my first boyfriend showed off his amazing skills on me and served up the most mind-blowing treat, I have been sold on the idea that when it comes to eating, I’d rather relax and let a guy do the work.
Yes, men make for a delightful eating experience. It’s perhaps for this reason that men and their eating has often been a topic for storytelling. Recently, I have been reading many such stories, with a few cunning ones in between chronicling this phenomenon as an ancient practice by not just men, but also women. Even with articles coming from as far Japan, one does not need a linguist to interpret the gravity of this issue – some men are taking their eating much too far.
Mao Sugiyama cooked, seasoned and served own genitals to diners.
It was exactly a week ago today that my friend Andrew commented on his post to Facebook: “This is probably the most disgusting article you’ll read this week.” Although warned, I proceeded to click on the link, only to behold the most astonishing thing – a naked man eating another man. Actually, he was eating the man’s face. I was grossed out as I read how this crazed man in the nude, Rudy Eugene, attacked the victim, Ronald Poppo, a homeless man in Miami and starting chewing on his face. I responded to Andrew that it was the most disgusting thing I had read all year! That was until our mutual friend, Andrea posted yet another link to even more bizarre eating. This time it was Mao Sugiyama,a self-described “asexual” from Tokyo whose genitals were eaten by five diners. The twist here – Mao had cooked, seasoned and served said genitals at a banquet.
I then vaguely recalled an incident from last summer that had fleetingly took me back to my childhood days of reading Hansel and Gretel. With intentions as scary as the hag in this fairy tale, Natasha Hubbard, a homeless Los Angeles woman snatched a baby boy from his mother and tried to break off his arm to eat it. Luckily, the little boy escaped both her cannibalistic palate and any serious injury. And just when I thought I’d had enough of this eating to sicken my stomach, Alexander Kinyua, a 21-year-old Morgan State University student all but made me throw up. The Huffington Post on Thursday reported that Kinyua allegedly killed his roommate, Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie and ate his brain and heart. I could go on with all the crazy eating stories of late, but New York (Magazine) lists them here.
A Carib – one of the indigenous people of the Caribbean.
Growing up in the Caribbean, I was taught the history of our indigenous people the Caribs, after whom our region is named. The Carib people arrived in our territory at least two centuries before Columbus (1492) and were said to be cannibals, known mainly for eating their war enemies. But it has been centuries since there have been any reports of cannibalism among Caribs. In fact, only a few Caribs remain in the West Indies – predominantly in the Commonwealth of Dominica in the Carib Territory and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in villages such as Sandy Bay, Fancy and Greiggs. And not even among these Caribs – a people who history records as practising cannibalism – is there any human flesh eating in this the 21stcentury. Why now this sudden appetite among folks from Tokyo, to California, to Florida and Maryland for eating their fellow humans?
I never thought the day would come when the thought of a man eating would make me shudder, but in a way it does. I could deal with a man eating all the food I have lovingly prepared and laid out for him. I don’t mind if he gets it all on the corners of his mouth or even all over his face. I don’t care if he has such a ravenous appetite that he demands extra servings even when I say I have no more to give. I appreciate a man who eats that heartily, but I draw the line at literally being on the menu. I might be all about eating, but cannibalism? Nah dread, not me and dat eating thing!
~ I Keep it Irie ~
Island Soul City Dreams 
I have never bought the Caribs as cannibals story at all. In fact, I am of the view that the colonizers, in order to justify their own barbaric and evil actions demonized the original settlers of these islands with the intention of eventually enslaving, exterminating or evicting them in the same way they used the bible to justify the crime of slavery. With respect to the current events surrounding flesh-eating humans, I am constantly amazed at how much we humans are constantly evolving into more violent and intolerant creatures and perhaps in the case of the American incidents, the use of drugs is clearly responsible here. Interestingly enough, I was having a conversation the other day and someone pointed out to me that while reading a book on cannibalism, one of the characters in the book pointed out that human carcass does in fact taste like roast beef. Another reason to make one cringe lol.
Thanks for reading and for your feedback, Kellon! Okay, that roast beef comment totally made my skin crawl! Eeewwwww!!! Lol! Re: the Caribs, while I don’t concur with your views on why they perhaps weren’t cannibals, as much research/reading I’ve done on the subject over the years, I remain neutral on whether or not they were. Much of the history written about the Caribbean “documents” that they did indeed practise cannibalism, but hey, history has always been disputed.:-)
Re: drug use resulting in cases of human flesh eating in the US, clearly, it must be something new being added to these drugs today.;-) People in this country have been been abusing drugs since “forever.” The late 60’s/70’s era was high time for drug abuse as was the 80’s at the height of the crack epedemic. I don’t recall reading with any regularity or any high number of documented cases of human flesh eating during those periods. So I’m curious to know what’s creating this “peculiar palate” in today’s drug addict?
To weigh in on the whole Carib/cannibal debate, I doubt very highly that I have done more research on Caribs than Maquita, especially given that I’m allergic to research 😀 However, I have been to Suriname and Guyana on field trips, where we were studying the languages of Carib and Arawak people respectively.
First off, it should be noted that neither the Arawaks or Caribs originally referred to themselves as such. In Guyana, there are about six different ‘Arawak’ communities, among them the Lokono and Wapishana communities, each with their own language. To be fair though, the Caribs we met in Suriname called themselves Kalinya, and I know that the Dominican Caribs call themselves Kalinago, so possibly they are related, given the linguistic similarity of their names.
In Suriname, we were informed that when Europeans met friendly, docile Amerindians, they were referred to as Arawaks. When they met Amerindians who were unwilling to be subjugated or have their land stolen, and who fought back, these were called Caribs. Cannibalism was attributed to the ‘Caribs.’
We all know that history is written by the victors. We also know from Africa’s history that Europeans did not hesitate to vilify those they wished to subjugate in order to make said subjugation more palatable. So I tend to share the view of Kellon. But of course, none of us was there in that era, so I cannot say for fact that cannibalism did not occur in Amerindian communities.
Article was a bit morbid for my liking, but not a bad read nonetheless.
Lol@ research comments! Why you have to make me sound like a research nerd? lol! Great feedback as always Reynold. As I said before though, I sit on the fence as to whether or not the Caribs were “cannibals.” My research on Caribs – from an early age had much to do with the fact that my paternal roots are directly tied to them. So I’ve always been fascinated by their story and of course, I secretly hope there were NOT cannibals, but to date I have no conclusive evidence one way or the other. As you said, however, “history is written by the victors”; well for the most and yes, much of what were were taught or read re: Caribbean history was biased towards those who wished to “vilify” for whatever reason.
Yeah, tuh much morbid tings duh up inside dey…datz why uh had tuh stop listing; caaah call all.
But given the regularity with which it has been happening (in this day and age), I do think that this issue a relevant one for discussion. Smh