Search Engine with PJ Vogt
Episode: "Why don’t we eat people?" (Classic)
Date: February 20, 2026
Episode Overview
This episode tackles a question both morbidly fascinating and deeply taboo: Why don’t we eat people? Prompted by a four-year-old’s innocent dinner-table query, host PJ Vogt explores the origins, logic, and emotional contours of the cannibalism taboo. The journey takes listeners from anthropological and historical origins to unsettling modern cases and finally to the complicated, loving rituals of the Fore people of Papua New Guinea.
1. Setting the Stage: A Child’s Question
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Key Participants:
- Host: PJ Vogt
- Otto: 4-year-old question-asker
- Hannah Goldfield: Otto’s mom, food critic for The New Yorker
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Notable Segment:
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[03:22]–[07:07]
- Otto is interviewed about his favorite color, season, and—most notably—his recent question for his mom:
"Why don't you eat human heads?" — Otto [05:01]
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Hannah contextualizes: Otto, hearing that we eat cows and chickens, asks why humans aren’t on the menu. Hannah, a food critic sworn to eat anything, struggles to explain—a moment that exposes both the power of deep cultural taboos and the difficulty of logically justifying them.
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Key Insight:
- The cannibalism taboo is so fundamental it resists explicit reasoning, instead surfacing as a rule deeply ingrained and largely unexamined.
2. The Nature and Power of Taboos
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Segment:
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Exploration:
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Hannah and PJ discuss the dynamics of taboo, disgust, and food norms.
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Otto’s question provokes Hannah to confront the thin explanations adults have for the cannibalism taboo.
"...the truest taboos are the ones whose existence we don't even acknowledge. It's an idea that we've decided culturally or instinctively is so rotten that it becomes hard to even explain why we don't do it." — PJ [07:24]
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They recall cultural food aversions (e.g. balut, fertilized duck egg) and how disgust is shaped by upbringing.
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Memorable Exchange:
- Otto, after learning what would have to happen to eat a human head, reasons:
"...they would already be dead, like an old person, and their body was just there, and we could just eat the meat of their head." — Otto (via Hannah) [05:51]
3. Disgust, Culture, and the Role of Rules
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Segment:
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Highlights:
- The podcast reflects on how disgust feels innate but is actually taught, even regarding things as basic as eating meat, which can disgusting to vegetarians from birth.
- The process of learning the taboo is so powerful children like Otto will soon forget they ever questioned it.
4. Cannibalism in History: The Columbus Story
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Guest:
- Kalefa Sanneh (journalist and frequent Search Engine guest)
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Segment:
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Historical Origin:
- PJ relates how the word "cannibal" and the archetype of the savage man-eater emerge from Columbus’ voyages. The supposed cannibalism of the Caribs (actually mistranslated as "Canib" then "cannibal") served as a colonial justification for enslavement and violence.
"You call someone a cannibal, you can take their rights away." — PJ [24:42]
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Irony Noted:
- At the exact time Europeans were decrying ritual cannibalism, they practiced "medical cannibalism"—consuming mummies and body parts believing there were health benefits.
"There's actually another complicating story here. The whole time the Europeans are obsessed with cannibalism, they're practicing cannibalism just, like, in a slightly different form." — PJ [25:22]
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Recipe for Mumia:
- Vivid historical recipes described for making "mummia," involving embalmed corpses, show real historical complicity and moral grayness.
5. Survival Cannibalism & Social Judgment
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Segment:
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Cases Discussed:
- The Donner Party and the 1970s Uruguayan rugby team exemplify "survival cannibalism." While society grants a "pass" for dire circumstances, those involved remain marked for life.
"It's almost like we've decided that they are in a different category now. The only reason I'm not spending much time on survival cannibalism is I think it's sort of the exception to Otto's question." — PJ [30:35]
6. Modern Cannibalism and the Case of Consent
7. The Fore of Papua New Guinea: Loving Cannibalism and Kuru
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Segment:
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Story Told:
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The Fore practiced funerary cannibalism—eating the dead as an act of love and respect. Women and children mostly consumed the brains, intending to honor and maintain the deceased’s soul.
"There's something beautiful about that…This isn't like, oh, this person died. They're going to be delicious…it's a ritualistic thing to honor the life." — Kalefa [48:06–49:49]
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This practice led to the spread of Kuru, a prion disease fatal to women and children. The Fore eventually discontinued the ritual—not because of outside condemnation, but because of its deadly consequences.
"The actual ending of the story was the foray decided to change the rules around cannibalism. But it wasn't because cannibalism was wrong or gross. It was just like, we're dying from it." — PJ [50:53]
8. Would You Eat Lab-Grown Human Meat?
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Segment:
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Thought Experiment:
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PJ and Kalefa debate whether removing suffering (via lab-grown human meat) would make cannibalism palatable, and whether it would dangerously erode an important social taboo.
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Kalefa:
"Would it be possible to still respect people's bodies and not eat people's bodies? Even if we're eating lab grown meat that sort of tastes the way someone's body would taste? I suspect maybe…maybe we didn't evolve to find the taste of humans that delicious." [53:53–54:08]
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The Fore’s anthropologists’ findings note that, over time, members found human meat “really tasty”—demonstrating how taste, taboo, and culture are interwoven.
9. Final Reflection: How We Talk to Kids
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Segment:
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Conclusion:
- For children, perhaps the best answer is true but incomplete:
"I think the right answer for Otto is you shouldn't eat people because it could make you really sick." — PJ [56:02]
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Parent Update:
- Otto has since moved on to more standard childhood curiosities: "What are rocks made out of?"
Notable Quotes & Highlights
Key Timestamps & Topics
| Timestamp | Segment/Topic |
|-----------|----------------------------------------------------|
| 03:22–07:07 | Otto’s original question, parental reflection |
| 07:07–13:36 | Taboo, disgust, food rules—should we always ‘try’ foods? |
| 19:05–30:35 | Origin of "cannibalism," Columbus and propaganda |
| 30:35–33:52 | Survival cannibalism: exception or defining case? |
| 34:34–39:57 | Modern cases: Armin Meiwes, consent, legal gray area |
| 44:09–55:29 | The Fore, kuru, funerary cannibalism, cultural meaning |
| 51:35–55:29 | Would you try lab-grown human meat? |
| 55:51–56:25 | How much of the truth do we tell children? |
Tone & Style Notes
The hosts and guests throughout keep the tone curious, gently humorous, and honestly self-questioning—balancing empathy for cultures and individuals with a willingness to probe the edge of sensibility. The discussion is accessible, often playfully provocative, and always respectful of the heavy reality behind the taboo.
In Summary
The episode unpacks the roots and rationales of the anti-cannibalism taboo across history, society, law, and personal disgust. By weaving together a child’s question, global history, and anthropology, Vogt reveals how even our deepest taboos are products of culture, circumstance, and sometimes practical health. The final answer—true, but incomplete—is that we don’t eat people because it is dangerous, both culturally and literally. But like all such rules, this one, too, bears many stories.
For Further Listening
This episode is structured around honest questions, historical investigation, and gentle philosophical challenge—perfect for the curious, the culturally skeptical, or anyone pondering the secret rules that govern our appetites.
