Do humans taste good?

[Stravo]

I've seen so many shows about Shark Attacks, Bear Attacks, Lion Attacks, etc and one of the things that invaribaly gets mentioned by the narrator or animal expert is that "Humans don't taste very good." and that's one of the reasons why it is so rare to see a human devoured whole by a predatory animal.

They point to sharks taking a bite out of us, realizing we don't taste very good and letting us go. But other expets say that the shark knows as soon as it tastes us that we're not seals and thus not their natural prey and let us go.

Others have said that because of all the preservatives and crap that humans eat we tend to taste bad or just odd to other animals. That sounds suspiciously like some hippie urban legend to me.

Anyone know of any facts behind the statement that we taste bad to other animals?

[Petrosjko]

All I can speak to specifically is sharks.

The majority of shark attacks don't involve a bite per se, they're more of a sampling rake with the teeth.

And it's not case of the flavor, but rather our blubber/bone content. I heard a theory a while back that sharks have an incredibly highly developed ability to assess the energy expended in digestion vs. the energy gained, and human beings are such bony creatures with relatively low body fat compared to the preferred prey of larger sharks that we're not choice prey. The quasi-endothermic nature of such sharks as Great Whites as well as their ability to hit some serious flank speed means they run like furnaces, and they need that blubber for fuel.

[Edi]

Regarding sharks, those assertions are correct. I saw an interesting documentary about sharks a year or two back. Most shark attacks are carried aout by species of shark whose natural prey is seals. Even then, most of the attacks are caused by young individuals who are transitioning from a mostly fish-based diet to a seal-based one, and who more easily mistake humans for something edible. Well, we are edible to them, but far down the list of priorities.

The thing is, the fat ratio in humans is abysmally small for the needs of a shark such as the great white, and the net energy gain from tearing to pieces and gobbling up a human is very low, because the sharks expend quite a bit of energy cruising around for prey and then in the attack itself. From the shark's point of view, it is just not cost efficient to attack humans. They can taste the fat content of their prey on the first bite. Much like if you've ever taken a bite out of a hamburger made of mincemeat that was 80% fat and other offal instead of ground from prime roast, you fucking well notice he difference. The latter tastes good, while the former is likely to induce puking on the spot. For sharks, the priority is reversed. They like the fat, which seals have in plenty and we have relatively little of.

Of course, anybody stupid enough to behave like a seal or otherwise attract shark attention (i.e. splashing about like a sea creature in distress) is liable to get nibbled on and then either spit out or devoured, depending on how hungry and/or pissed off the shark happens to be.

Don't know about other animals, but the thing about artificial shit affecting taste is probably true. It is noticeable, just try eating grain-fed chicken and a fish-meal fed one and I guarantee you there is a difference. The saying "You are what you eat" does have some basis in reality. Our diet affects our base body odor (compare two people who eat different kinds of diets, one heavy with spices and the other not, for a period of a couple of years), so logically it should have some effect on our taste as well.

Edi

[Mayabird]

We eat meat. Carvivores and omnivores tend not to taste as good. I'm not entirely sure why (I heard a reason before but I don't remember it now), but it would lead me to the decision that if I'm starving somewhere and there's nothing to eat but some other humans stuck in the same predicament, the vegetarian is dinner first.

[Petrosjko]

We eat meat. Carvivores and omnivores tend not to taste as good. I'm not entirely sure why (I heard a reason before but I don't remember it now), but it would lead me to the decision that if I'm starving somewhere and there's nothing to eat but some other humans stuck in the same predicament, the vegetarian is dinner first.

Purely guessing here, but it probably has to do with the fact that the typical carnivore gets its essential vitamins via the diet of its herbivorous prey.

[Aaron]

I've always heard that we taste like Pig.

[Lagmonster]

Not at all ironically, an obese human would probably be more palatable to a predator than an average, fit human.

[Mrs Kendall]

I've always heard that we taste like Pig.

I've never heard of that but this thread is certainly making me feel sick to my stomach. For some reason this thread reminds me of that movie 'ALIVE' where the plane crashes in the mountains and they end up eating the dead guy's bum.

So anyway if we taste like pig does that mean we taste salty :p I don't know cause I don't like pig.

[Civil War Man]

What a person eats probably affects how they taste, seeing as how it can affect how they smell. A lot of American GIs over in Korea, if you ask them, will tell you that many Koreans smell like kim chi (probably spelled that wrong), a popular dish in that country that has a rather...interesting smell.

Anyway, in order to gain perspective on the whole issue of human smells, my mom asked her Korean friend what Americans smelled like. Her friend simply replied, "Milk and baby powder." It wasn't really all that surprising, since many people of non-European descent tend to be lactose intolerant.

[Lord Zentei]

What do we taste like? Only one way to find out.

"Oh Walper! Yoo hoo!"

[Caius]

Not at all ironically, an obese human would probably be more palatable to a predator than an average, fit human.

but how many of these people are going to go out swimming or whatever enabling a shark to take a bite?

[Mrs Kendall]

Hey, large people do swim didn't you know that.

[Jason von Evil]

All I can speak to specifically is sharks.

The majority of shark attacks don't involve a bite per se, they're more of a sampling rake with the teeth.

Which wouldn't be so bad, if not for the nine rows of razor sharp teeth.

[xcr]

Pigs are omnivores, and I think they taste rather good.
As for what humans taste like... I read a book a number of years ago that touched on Stalingrad (in ww2, naturally), and it mentioned a person who had to eat people who had been killed do to lack of other food, and was recorded as saying that "it tasted quite good, and did not need much salt" which does suggest a salty meat.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

I've always heard that we taste like Pig.

This actually isn't as far-fetched as it might seem. We're biochemically similar enough to pigs that their organs and parts can be used in people with relatively few ill effects (heart valves being the primary example.) So, it tends to follow that we ought to taste more like a pig than any other animal we're familiar with. (Really, we'd probably taste like chimp, but the only ones who'd know what chimp tastes like are African bush-meat hunters.)

Though, we are probably a fair bit leaner and stringier than most any pork roast.

[Elheru Aran]

I've always heard that we taste like Pig.

This actually isn't as far-fetched as it might seem. We're biochemically similar enough to pigs that their organs and parts can be used in people with relatively few ill effects (heart valves being the primary example.) So, it tends to follow that we ought to taste more like a pig than any other animal we're familiar with. (Really, we'd probably taste like chimp, but the only ones who'd know what chimp tastes like are African bush-meat hunters.)

Though, we are probably a fair bit leaner and stringier than most any pork roast.

There *is* a reason that various cannibalistic tribes in the south Pacific and New Guinea refer to human flesh as 'Long Pig', you know...

[Lord Zentei]

There *is* a reason that various cannibalistic tribes in the south Pacific and New Guinea refer to human flesh as 'Long Pig', you know...

And that was used by Warren Ellis in Transmetropolitan.

Long Pig was a food chain that sold cloned human meat. The clones were so designed that the higher brain never went online - only the brainstem/automated functions to avoid ethical dilemmas.

[Lord Revan]

We eat meat. Carvivores and omnivores tend not to taste as good. I'm not entirely sure why (I heard a reason before but I don't remember it now), but it would lead me to the decision that if I'm starving somewhere and there's nothing to eat but some other humans stuck in the same predicament, the vegetarian is dinner first.

I'm not, but could that Carnivores (and to some extent omnivores) hgave capability to inflict too much damage to what get from then in terms of energy (low fat content).

[LadyTevar]

I am surprised no one's posted on here a straight, flat "No, they don't."


This is SDnet. We're supposed to be disturbing.

[Elheru Aran]

I am surprised no one's posted on here a straight, flat "No, they don't."


This is SDnet. We're supposed to be disturbing.

Well, it could be worse. Someone could've posted something about oral sex or anal sex (take your pick...)

[Superman]

Not at all ironically, an obese human would probably be more palatable to a predator than an average, fit human.

Not to mention that a fit human would have the best chance of escape and survival.

I think lots of larger sized predators would see humans as food and act accordingly. I once read that salt water Crocs see humans as food sources (unlike alligators) and will attack and eat people.

[sketerpot]

I've never heard of that but this thread is certainly making me feel sick to my stomach. For some reason this thread reminds me of that movie 'ALIVE' where the plane crashes in the mountains and they end up eating the dead guy's bum.

Just one dead guy's bum? No, if I remember the story correctly they lived for months off the naturally refrigerated corpses of the many people who died, and then got horrible constipation from this very unbalanced diet. Not to mention weakness from malnutrition.

[Rye]

I recall a documentary on cannibal serial killers, one of the interviews went like this:

Interviewer: "So, what do humans taste like?"

Serial Killer: "Have you had a roast pig recently?"

Interviewer: "No?"

Serial Killer: "Well I don't think you'll be having one any time soon, either."

[Aaron]

What a person eats probably affects how they taste, seeing as how it can affect how they smell. A lot of American GIs over in Korea, if you ask them, will tell you that many Koreans smell like kim chi (probably spelled that wrong), a popular dish in that country that has a rather...interesting smell.

Anyway, in order to gain perspective on the whole issue of human smells, my mom asked her Korean friend what Americans smelled like. Her friend simply replied, "Milk and baby powder." It wasn't really all that surprising, since many people of non-European descent tend to be lactose intolerant.

Well I can tell you that a burning North American Male smells like a burning hot dog.

[Mrs Kendall]

I've never heard of that but this thread is certainly making me feel sick to my stomach. For some reason this thread reminds me of that movie 'ALIVE' where the plane crashes in the mountains and they end up eating the dead guy's bum.

Just one dead guy's bum? No, if I remember the story correctly they lived for months off the naturally refrigerated corpses of the many people who died, and then got horrible constipation from this very unbalanced diet. Not to mention weakness from malnutrition.

Lol I guess my post suggests that I was so grossed out by it that I never watched it after they started eating the first guys bum. Sorry didn't mean to leave out details I just didn't watch the whole thing. I think I was maybe 16 at the time by the way .:p