This headline appeared in today's local paper:

Fleshy fruit of S. African whites enhance food

I was so disappointed when there were no recipes. There just aren't enough good cannibal recipes.

of course, the article was really about white wines, but

There just aren't enough good cannibal recipes.

Harvard Business Review, 1984

"A large multinational corporation once attempted to sell baby food in an African nation by using packaging designed for its home country market. The company's regular label showed a picture of a baby with a caption describing the kind of baby food contained in the jar. African consumers took one look at the product, however, and were horrified. They interpreted the labels to mean that the jars contained ground-up babies!"

Comment on this "Legend":

"This tale is cultural prejudice at its worst; an apocryphal anecdote based on the premise of a whole society of illiterates who don't know what baby food is are credulous enough to believe that someone would sell ground-up babies as food. None of the stores selling this stuff think to correct their misperceptions, of course, nor are we apparently supposed to consider that in regions where "most people can't read," "most people" also don't generally have enough disposable income to be buying individual jars of prepared baby food in the first place."

http://www.snopes.com/business/market/babyfood.asp

todays metro section of the NYTimes has a item about eating (or not eating) babies.

a couple (with an infant in tow) couldn't help but overhear a converstion at another table about eating babies (in this case the baby in question was calf--and they decided they don't eat babies--(no veal for dinner) but they ordered lamb (baby loin lamb chops no doubt, but not stated)

(swift didn't provide recipes did he? just suggestions for stews, or roasts..)

Then there's the perennial Jonathan Swift special at the local fine restaurant; the baby back ribs.

and no wonder traditional family values are under threat, given the amazing number of openly advertised Traditional Family Butchers on every main street.

swift didn't provide recipes did he? just suggestions for stews, or roasts

Here is an excerpt from Swift’s A Modest Proposal:

“I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.

“I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand children already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one-fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle or swine; and my reason is, that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore one male will be sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in the sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom; always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends; and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.


I guess just the basics, nothing fancy – kind of like the food at Outback Steakhouse “No recipes, just salt!” This may be a regional restaurant, I don’t know. For those unfamiliar with Outback Steakhouse’s slogan, it is: “No rules, just right!”


Here’s a link to the proposal in full:

http:////art-bin.com/art/omodest.html

Traditional Family Butchers on every main street. So the non-traditional families are safe, are they?

> non-traditional families are safe, are they?

Not neccessarily - they have to watch out for the stealthy antics of the Cut Price Family Butchers!

"Have a little Priest...!" [/Sondheim]