I Cooked and Ate My Own Foot

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: What It Was Like
Host: Julian Morgans
Episode Title: I Cooked and Ate My Own Foot
Date: October 17, 2025

In this episode, Julian Morgans talks with "Shiny" (a pseudonym), a Texan who experienced a motorcycle accident leading to the surgical amputation of his foot—and then cooked and ate a portion of it with friends. The conversation explores the origins of taboos, the psychology of extreme experience, the value of friendship, and the philosophical curiosity that led Shiny to break one of society’s deepest cultural boundaries. What could have been just a sensational story becomes a surprisingly thoughtful meditation on mortality, transformation, and authenticity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Motorcycle Accident and Its Aftermath

• Accident Details: On Memorial Day, Shiny was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle in the mountains, resulting in a catastrophic foot injury ([07:35–09:11]).
  • "There was a car stopped in the road... as I got right up to them, they hit the gas and right into the side of the motorcycle... I flipped over and hit a tree on the way through, and that's what caused the injury to my foot." (Shiny, 08:04)
• Medical Response and Psychedelic Experience:
  • Morphine was ineffective; Shiny was administered ketamine in the medevac helicopter, leading to a vivid, transcendent experience:
    "What I do remember was transcending time and space in a sea of geometric colors and contemplating life and death, which I kind of attribute to my sunny disposition thereafter." (Shiny, 10:11)
• Life Pivot: The experience became a wake-up call prompting Shiny to pursue more meaning and intentionality.
  • "If I get through this, I'm going to get my shit together and make my life better." (Shiny, 11:56)

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2. The Foot—A Curious Proposal

• Doctor’s Negotiations & Foot Ownership:

  • Shiny insisted on being given his amputated foot, a process which required negotiation with hospital administrators ([15:35–16:36]).
  • "I'm getting this thing back, and then my buddy showed up and I was like, hey, man, we should eat some of it... That way it's not really gone. It's still a part of me." (Shiny, 15:35)

• Origins of the Cannibal Discussion:

  • Years earlier, Shiny and friends had joked about trying "ethical and safe" human meat. The amputation brought the possibility into reality.
  • "Everybody says yes because they don't ever think the opportunity is ever going to rise.” (Shiny, 15:19)

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3. Organizing an Unforgettable Brunch

• Building the Guest List:
  • Only friends open-minded enough were invited; Shiny’s family never knew about the plan ([22:09–22:41]).
• Retrieving and Prepping the Foot:
  • The hospital returned the foot to Shiny in a red bag: "They gave me an amputated foot in a red bag, and that's all it was... I stuff it in a backpack, and I walk out of the hospital." (Shiny, 23:42)
  • He cut a muscle from the shin, experienced existential weirdness:
    "I can't tell you the existential weirdness of holding your own leg and going, well, let's chop this chunk of meat off right here." (Shiny, 24:13)
• Brunch Setup:
  • A chef-friend marinated and cooked the foot, serving it with tortillas, chimichurri, and tapas-style sides amid a beautifully set table.
  • "It was lovely. She [the host] is a fantastic party planner... It was this lovely little situation... and the awkwardness was palpable around that table." (Shiny, 25:58–27:01)

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4. The Act: Eating the Foot

• Experience and Emotional Reaction:

  • Each of the 10 friends (plus Shiny) had a small piece (approx. 2 cm square).
  • "While it was tasty, it was incredibly, incredibly chewy. People were chewing on me for three, four minutes. I had one friend who had to spit me out. She said, 'I'm so sorry, I can't do it. It's gotten too weird.'" (Shiny, 28:26)

• Flavor Profile:

  • "People always talk about it... 'It tastes like pig.' But it didn't taste like any pig I've ever had. It was beefy. It was incredibly beefy. It's like bison or wild game... and my God, was it chewy." (Shiny, 29:25)
  • Rating: "Flavor, great flavor. 8 out of 10. But the fact that it was so chewy... Unless you’re in a survival situation, it’s terrible." (Shiny, 30:52)
  • Cooking tip: "If ever you’re going to eat people, make sure you cook it low and slow. You gotta treat that meat properly." (Shiny, 31:38)

• Mood and Aftermath:

  • The group shared dark jokes: "That was the time I was inside 10 people at once." (Shiny, 31:57)
  • Shiny soon left for a new life in Texas, met his future wife, and saw the incident as a turning point.

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5. Friendship, Taboo, and Going Public

• Value of Community:

  • "It was really emotional and heartwarming... that many friends who are close enough to me and awkwardly weird enough to share in that experience... Now I'm a part of them in a very real way." (Shiny, 27:54)

• Coming Out—Kind Of:

  • Shiny only told a select group; the story eventually went viral after he posted it on Reddit.
  • On dating, he revealed the story to his (now) wife on their first date:
    • "'I’m not going to tell you the weirdest thing I've ever eaten, but I'll give you the second weirdest.' ...She’s like, 'No, I want to know.' ...She said, 'You're bullshitting me. You’re a liar. But I like where this is going.'" (Shiny, 36:51)

• Society’s Reaction:

  • Some negative responses: "People said it was demonic and against God and that I'm obviously insane and should seek help. I got a bunch of referrals off Reddit to anti-suicide lines..." (Shiny, 39:21)
  • Others were more open-minded: "If people are wrapped up in their own cultural issues, they're the ones who get hung up on it... It's not like a bunch of devil worshipers... There was no violence in this. It was just a nice, chill brunch." (Shiny, 39:53–41:58)

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6. Taboos, Health, and Legality

• Risk & Research:
  • Shiny investigated both health and legal aspects:
    • "Obvious one is prion disease... [but] extremely low risk if you’re just eating one bite of meat... It’s not really illegal [in the US], except in Idaho and Alaska." (Shiny, 42:16–44:10)

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7. Reflections and Takeaways

• On Anonymity and Identity:

  • Shiny opted not to use his real name: “If you get notoriety for one thing, that is what you are for the rest of your life as far as the Internet’s concerned… and there’s a lot more to me than just that.” (Shiny, 44:24)

• What He Learned:

  • "Life is fragile and fleeting and you need to appreciate it and do what you can to make the most out of it. And I've learned how to make good friends... invest in them... be open and be yourself completely with people—which is horribly, horribly nerve wracking to do... but you're gonna find people who, despite all your flaws, will enjoy you..." (Shiny, 45:43–48:04)

• Host's Reflection:

  • "I came to this story thinking it was going to be this bizarre thing. And we've ended with this really beautiful rumination about the nature of friendship or the value of authenticity." (Julian Morgans, 48:17)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I can’t tell you the existential weirdness of holding your own leg and going, well, let’s chop this chunk of meat off right here." — Shiny ([24:13])
• "Now I'm a part of them in a very real way." — Shiny ([27:23])
• "It was kind of like putting a pin in it and having a... wake for the foot is what it was." — Shiny ([27:54])
• "If ever you’re going to eat people, make sure you cook it low and slow." — Shiny ([31:38])
• "People chew on their nails all the time... All I did was take advantage of the meat part of it. And I think the icky part for people is... you don’t hear about that sort of cannibalism outside of... horror or violence. There was no violence in this." — Shiny ([40:11])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Motorcycle Accident & Hospital Experience: [07:35–12:32]
• Origin of the Ethical Cannibalism Idea: [13:23–17:01], [15:16–16:56]
• Foot Retrieval & Preparation: [22:52–25:07]
• The Foot Brunch: Cooking and Eating: [25:58–31:43]
• Cultural Reactions / Reddit Story: [35:42–41:58]
• Health & Legal Risks: [42:16–44:10]
• Reflections on Identity and Friendship: [44:24–48:17]

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Tone & Language

• Shiny: Deadpan, darkly humorous, self-aware, philosophical; often deflects with jokes but reveals vulnerability and depth.
• Julian Morgans: Curious, sometimes incredulous, but empathetic and affirming; guides the conversation toward bigger life lessons.

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Final Takeaway

Through a story that begins on the farthest outskirts of social convention, "I Cooked and Ate My Own Foot" becomes an exploration of what happens when you cross a taboo, but also how trauma and radical honesty can lead to community, transformation, and a richer appreciation for being alive. The episode challenges listeners to rethink their own taboos—and to cherish those rare, weird, and wonderful friends willing to sit at your table, no matter what is being served.

Transcript

[Shiny]

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[Shiny]

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[Shiny]

Subaru we all took our bites. Everybody got a nice little chunk there. While it was tasty, it was incredibly, incredibly chewy. People were chewing on me for three, four minutes. I had one friend who had to spit me out. I swear she got nothing but tendon. And she was just chewing on that thing forever. And she said, I'm so sorry, I can't do it. It's. Got it. It's gotten too weird because she got in her head about it, but she just sit there like gnawing on my flesh for minutes.

[Julian Morgans]

Hey, I'm Julian Morgans, and you're listening to what It Was like, the show that asks people who have lived through big dramatic events what it was like. Hello? What it was like. Listeners. You know, sometimes we do stories that are connected to something in the news, but. But other times it's just whatever strange rabbit hole I happen to have fallen down. And this week we're doing one of Those stories. So I've been thinking about cannibalism and how bizarre it is that throughout history humans have occasionally eaten one another, but also equally how strange it is that we as a species actually find it disturbing at all. And I say that because most animals don't seem to care. I think as someone who's owned chickens a few times throughout my life, I can tell you that chickens will gladly eat their own eggs if you don't collect them fast enough. Or if you happen to throw a chicken a little bit of chicken, it will happily eat that. Also, how many times have you seen birds eating other dead birds by the side of the road? Or dogs eating, you know, their own vomit or another dog's poo? Or just, I mean, I don't know. I've never seen a dog eating a dog, but I'm sure they would. Anyway, my point is, I was thinking about the non fussiness of animals, which led me down this Google wormhole about cannibalism. And I came across two stories that I want to share with you on the podcast today. So one of them is our main episode, this one. And the other is for our what It Was like subscribers. Also, a quick reminder, if you haven't subscribed, you should, because we'd love it and hopefully you will too. But today's story on this episode is about a man who crashed his motorbike and he had to have his foot amputated. And then he convinced the surgeons to let him keep his foot. And then he invited 10 friends over for brunch and they all ate a piece of his foot. Now, the original post appeared on Reddit and we reached out. My guest today has asked that we preserve his anonymity. So we're going to call him Shiny, which is also his handle on Reddit. But I can tell you that Shiny is originally from Texas. He grew up on the New Mexico border. He studied physics before he moved into fine arts and now, and now he works in construction. So he paints, he sculpts, and he also builds things. He's one of those rare people with a bit of a scientific and a creative brain. And as you'll hear, he's also got one foot. Yes, pun very much intended in the world of philosophy, because I think on the surface this might sound like a sensational story. You know, man eats his own foot. How sensational. But underneath, it's really about taboos and why they exist. I think most taboos feel like they're part of the natural order. You know, it just feels like that's the way things should be according to nature, that they're some way a piece of evolutionary programming designed to keep us alive and to prevent us from having sex with our cousins. But upon closer examination, I think a lot of taboos are. They're purely cultural. You know, they're just a construct. And Shiny was happy to not just poke at this very particular construct, but to take a big flying leap at it. So this is a great conversation about his learnings, about taboos. Plus, I got to ask a question that I've always just privately wondered, which is what does human taste like? So I hope you enjoy my conversation with. With the man who ate his own foot. Hey, Shiny. Welcome to the show.

[Shiny]

Well, hello, Julian.

[Julian Morgans]

Well, hello. Okay, so obviously this is a pretty freaky thing that you did. I'm just going to use the word freaky. Why not? So I want to start by understanding you, kind of the nature of you. And I'm curious. Like, how would you describe your own personality?

[Shiny]

I'm a pretty. I'm a fairly laid back person, but I do have a dark sense of humor, fairly sardonic. I'd like to say I'm intelligent and curious about the world and everything going on. I'd like to have less friends, but with greater connections rather than a whole bunch of friends that are more acquaintances. I like nature more than the city.

[Julian Morgans]

Okay, and what elements of your personality do you think motivated to do this is?

[Shiny]

Definitely the, like to eat weird stuff, explore nature, and the dark sense of humor that led me to that little. Well, let's. Let's try something out since we have an opportunity.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah, okay. I can see that that's a sort of holy trifecta that would lead you to this kind of behavior.

[Shiny]

All right, well, let's.

[Julian Morgans]

Let's talk about your motorcycle accident. Just take me to that day, you know, like, can you walk me through was.

[Shiny]

It was a holiday for us, Memorial Day, which we all get off of work. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. So I took my motorcycle out for a ride in the mountains. I went out to a small little bar way out in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, had myself a beer, and then kind of hung out for a little bit and watched the birds. And I was going to head back into town and go have dinner with a friend. And as I was cruising along and enjoying the ride, there was a car stopped in the road in the opposite lane up ahead. And they had their blanker on. So they're going to go across the road to where there's like a Little fishing area. And there was a truck and a car ahead of me. And that car waited for both them to go past and was still stopped. So I was like, okay, they see me. And as I got right up to them, they hit the gas and right into the side of the motorcycle. And I kind of fishtailed for a second there and went into the gravel. The front wheel turned sideways. I flipped over and hit a tree on the. On the way through. And that's what caused the injury to my foot. And really nothing else. I had three stitches on the back of my neck and a destroyed foot, and that was it.

[Julian Morgans]

So you slammed into the tree with your foot?

[Shiny]

That's the only thing I can think of. Which was really surprising, because when I went back after everything, all the trees were super close together, like maybe not even half a meter between them. And so I flew in between all these things. You know, thank. Whatever. That I didn't hit one of them directly, because I surely would have been a much worse result.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah, yeah, that would have been curtains. I mean, do you remember this, or did you wake up in the hospital?

[Shiny]

No, I remember everything. I was awake the entire time.

[Julian Morgans]

Okay.

[Shiny]

So I. I kind of sit up and, you know, I'm looking at myself going, holy crap. And I'm just sitting in all these little pine needles, and I just feel this intense burning down on my foot. And I look down, and it's just kind of like dangling underneath my leg where it's supposed to be, and it's, like, attached, but, like, not properly. And I was just kind of like, oh, that's not good. And I just start screaming for help. And so within, you know, seconds, there's people there to. To help me out. And then there was an off duty EMS person who was actually there and hung out with me until the ambulance showed up. And when they loaded me into the ambulance, and the whole time they're giving me morphine and morphine and it's not doing anything. But when I got in a helicopter, they asked me, yeah, if the morphine's not doing anything, we'll see if we can get used to the stronger. How do you feel about ketamine? And I was like, yeah, let's go. Whatever. And I do not remember that helicopter ride at all, which sucks. Cause I always wanted to ride in a helicopter. What I do remember was transcending time and space in a sea of geometric colors and contemplating life and death, which I kind of attribute to my sunny disposition thereafter. It's a very pivotal moment in my life. In many different directions. Really?

[Julian Morgans]

Are you seriously saying you had this like, transcendental psychedelic experience in the helicopter?

[Shiny]

Absolutely. It was like kind of coming to terms with everything that'd be going on in my life. I had that year, or within about nine months, broken up with my longtime partner for 13 years. I was getting to a point where I was tired of my job. I was trying to figure out what was next for me in life. And now I'm in this accident where, you know, I don't know if I have internal injuries, I don't know what's going on. All I know is that I was on a motorcycle accident. And you know, when, when you tell people, oh, I was in a motorcycle accident, that they think the worst, because it's usually the worst. People are incredibly fragile, and when you get an accident like that, it. There's so many things that can go wrong. And so, you know, I was going through this whole experience on a fantastic dose of some hardcore psychedelics, and it was really kind of nice in that moment.

[Julian Morgans]

It's interesting to me that you're already thinking of this as like a pivot point. Like, it's. It's been maybe an hour tops, and you're already thinking of like, okay, this could be constructive.

[Shiny]

Well, it's. It's one of those things that, like, if I get through this, I'm going to get my shit together and make my life better. I feel like that's the appropriate thing to do when you're in that situation. Like when it's. When you're in the life or death, you're like, well, maybe this is an eye opening experience and I should take things a little more seriously. Because up to that point, I had lived my life kind of laissez faire, Never really planning for the future, didn't have a whole lot of irons in the fire, so to speak, and didn't know what I wanted to do. And I was like, well, crap, I could die at any moment. This. That sucks. Let's try to figure some things out.

[Julian Morgans]

I mean, you jokingly described yourself as having a sunny disposition before, but do you think that's true of you?

[Shiny]

I am optimistic to a point. I would like to be optimistic. I'm typically pessimistic, but damn it, do I want to be optimistic? It's like, I see people who are optimistic. I'm like, that seems really nice. That seems like a good place to be. It's like, people who like olives. People like olives, love olives. They're so into them. I don't like olives. And so I feel like I'm missing out on some very core thing of humanity. So I would like to be optimistic. And so I try to fake it.

[Julian Morgans]

Along Sometimes that sounds to me like a perfect segue from. From your motorcycle accident. So you arrive in the hospital, what happens next?

[Shiny]

Arrive in the hospital and, you know, the doctors start telling me, well, we put it back together, but we don't know if you're going to be able to keep it. It's highly unlikely. And then I have family there and friends coming in and out and just. I'm kind of thankful for everything and trying to come to terms with what this is going to be and what it's going to look like. But during that time, I had friends coming in who years previously we had talked about, you know, we like to eat weird stuff. Anytime we're going to get a chance to go out and try a new food or something weird, we're going to just try it. You got to try it a couple times, but just try it. And so one of the weirdest things I ever ate when I was down in Chinatown in San Francisco one time, I got some pickled pigs here, and it's just like cartilage that they've brined and it's cold and like, if you pinch the back of your ear and you feel that cartilage, pickled pigs ear is exactly what you think the texture would be if it was soggy and cold and briny. It. It's not good whatsoever. And it's kind of still hairy too. It had some like, fur on it, but, you know, it's tasty enough. So I ate it down. Yeah, we've done the whole, like eating grasshoppers and crickets and meal worms and all that stuff, but different. The conversation came up about like, well, if it was ethical and safe and it was in a way that someone said, yes, please do this, would you try some people meat? Just to try it. And everybody at the deal and table goes, well, of course, yes, I definitely try it. Just to taste, just to see what it was like. Just to say that we did it. Okay, now we know what people taste like. There you go, we're done.

[Julian Morgans]

So just to be clear, this conversation played out like a few years earlier.

[Shiny]

It was about two or three years earlier, we already had this. You know, it was in the bag. Oh, the opportunity ever arise? And of course everybody says yes because they don't ever think the opportunity is ever going to rise. Where. Where are you going to get that opportunity to, like, someone goes, hey, I got some ethically sourced people.

[Julian Morgans]

Me.

[Shiny]

You want to try it out? That doesn't happen. But I was in this situation and I'd already been talking to the doctors, like, okay, if you cut this leg off, I want it back because it's mine. And they're like, well, we don't really do that. And I was like, yeah, you can, though. It's mine. I'm taking it home. I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I don't know if I'm going to freeze dry it. I don't know if I'm going to stuff it. I don't know if I'm going to cremate it and put it in a jar, but it's mine. I'm keeping it. So let's figure out how this happens. And so the surgeon went and talked to the hospital administrator. So I already had that workout. I was like, I'm getting this thing back. And then my buddy showed up and I was like, hey, man, we should eat some of it again. Probably on a good bit of drugs. Yeah, let's just put that out there right now. But it's an opportunity. And what I told him was, that way is not really gone. It's still a part of me.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Shiny]

And it's a way of, you know, putting a pin in the whole thing. Bring closure, you know. And he. He was. He thought I was joking, but I was not. And eventually we started talking to other people and we got the group together. The group?

[Julian Morgans]

As in everyone who was around the table for the original conversation?

[Shiny]

Well, no. So some of them were into it and some weren't. But I have a very eclectic group of friends. When I was living up there and, you know, a lot of people were kind of down for the experience, so to speak.

[Julian Morgans]

Hey, we're going to take a quick ad break, but stick around because we'll be back with more what it was like.

[Shiny]

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[Commercial Narrator]

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[Shiny]

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[Julian Morgans]

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[Shiny]

That's SimpliSafe.com podcast. There's no safe like SimpliSafe.

[Julian Morgans]

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[Shiny]

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[Julian Morgans]

No, it's not.

[Shiny]

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[Shiny]

So after I had the amputation, I was in the hospital for I think another day, day and a half before they let me go home. And I said, okay, well where's the foot? And they're like, it's got to go through pathology. We'll give you a phone call. And I was like, okay, that's fine. So I go home and during that time I'm like, okay, well what are we going to do? Put it out to some people who might be into it and see how it goes. And we all just said, okay, we're going to do this. One of them's a professional chef. And so he's the one who actually did the cooking and did a fairly good job of it. I remember his girlfriend, we're all sitting there playing board games and I asked her if she wouldn't have Been on it and asked the table and she's like, oh my God, I need to call him and see if he wants to come cook it. So he's at work and she calls him. It's like, hey, so Shiny's gonna get his foot back and we're gonna cut some meat off of it. Would you cook it? And this is it. Like, how are you gonna get that phone call at work about, you know, ethical cannibalism? And then do you want to partake in that? So that was probably fairly odd for him.

[Julian Morgans]

What did he say?

[Shiny]

Oh, he's. Yeah, he'd definitely do it. He was definitely into it, but he thought it was a super, super weird idea. As is appropriate.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah, yeah, it is.

[Shiny]

And during this time I was just kind of like hanging out at my house, but I had a really good disposition and attitude about everything. Again, I attribute that to my little power trip with Academy and yeah, but I had a good sense of humor and I had kind of a good outlook. You know, hey, I'm still alive, so that's cool.

[Julian Morgans]

And did your upcoming dinner party give you something to look forward to a bit?

[Shiny]

It was kind of like putting a pin in it and having a. Into the whole, like new adjustment. That was a point going forward where, okay, now from here on out, let's see how we can improve life and go out and get what I want out of everything to, you know, stop being a mopey and start trying to be happier.

[Julian Morgans]

In the intervening weeks between losing your foot and hosting this dinner, did you have anyone calling you up and saying, hey, look, Shiny, I don't know about this. This is, this is. Maybe we shouldn't do this.

[Shiny]

Not one person. No.

[Julian Morgans]

Okay.

[Shiny]

People said, yes, I want to take part in it, or no, I don't want to take part in it. But you go have fun.

[Julian Morgans]

Wow.

[Shiny]

Although I was only speaking about with people who would probably be amenable. I didn't go and ask family or anything like if they, if they wanted to come and they still don't know about it. This is very much a story that I keep for people who will be open minded to such things because otherwise people get really weird.

[Julian Morgans]

Okay, yeah, yeah, let's get into that a little further down the track. I'd love to hear about some negative reactions you've got, but so, so take me to the night of the dinner. How did you prepare?

[Shiny]

It was more of a brunch. Well, actually, before we get there, I'm going to give you a little more background of how this all got processed. And that came about when the hospital called and said, hey, come pick up your foot. And so I drove down to the hospital, which is about an hour away, and it was literally. They gave me an amputated foot in a red bag, and that's all it was. And it wasn't like, frozen or anything. It was just like, they had it in a fridge, and they just hand me this foot, I stuff it in a backpack, and I walk out of the hospital. And I feel like that should have been really. It's not illegal, and it shouldn't be illegal because it is my foot. But it's not something you ever plan on doing in your life.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Shiny]

And so I tossed this foot in the cooler, and I drive back to the house. Then I washed everything up, and I kind of filleted down the shin a little bit and took off about, oh, three, four ounces off the shin. I have a big muscle on the top of my shin there. And I just kind of took that off, stuffed it in a baggie, and stuck it in the freezer. I can't tell you the existential weirdness of holding your own leg and going, well, let's chop this chunk of meat off right here. And then taking a knife to it and then taking a little piece of your own Lego sticking in a bag and throwing in the freezer. That was. That was peak weirdness for me in life. That. That is.

[Julian Morgans]

Hearing you describe that is peak weirdness of hosting this podcast.

[Shiny]

It is absolutely surreal to be, like, holding your own body parts in front of you and then also taking my leg to the crematorium, putting it in there and getting back ashes of it. The whole thing completely weird. But that. That's my peak right there. That and I. I can't really. I don't ever want to top that. That should be. That should be my peak. When everybody has, like, where they hit rock bottom. This is my peak of weirdness. I don't ever want to go beyond that.

[Julian Morgans]

No.

[Shiny]

So I got this chunk of meat over in the freezer, and my buddy comes by and picks it up, and he's just going to stick it in a brine overnight and to let it marinate and settle and soften up, because this is a professional chef, and he's like, this is a terrible cut of meat. There's no fat in this. You've been walking all this. Look how tough this meat is. And I didn't know what I was looking at. I'm like, sure, it's meat. He's like, no, this is tough meat. I'm going to deal with this. So he takes it, he marinates it, and the next morning, we go to his girlfriend's house. And it's lovely. She has flowers everywhere. She's got a table out on her porch that's decorated. There's pastries from the local shop. She's got coffee, she's got mimosas, she's got cocktails. Wow. Absolutely.

[Julian Morgans]

So nice.

[Shiny]

It was lovely. Yeah. She is a fantastic party planner. And so it's this lovely little situation that we got going on here. And we start having a couple drinks and eating some pastries. And he takes this meat out of the bag, starts dicing it up, and what he's essentially doing is making kind of like, fajita tapas. First he takes this whole slab of meat, browns it on both sides, then he chops it up into, like, little, real little pieces, saute some onions and peppers, puts the meat back in with it, tosses everything together, chops it all up a little bit more. Because we had, what, 10 people plus me.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah.

[Shiny]

And so he basically gets little tortilla pieces and puts a little bit of each, everything on all of them. We had 12 total. And gets a little chinchuri sauce and puts it on top of that. Makes it all fancy. And so we all had brunch, and then we had the. The main course. And the awkwardness was palpable around that table as we set those plates out. And I can imagine it's kind of, you know, all right, a little. A little bit of a cheers moment where, you know, people wanted a speech and there's no. There's not much you can really say about it. There's some dark humor jokes. But it was really nice that everybody came together. It's was a pleasure to know them then and to know them now and kind of to share myself with them in a way that few people get to. It was also nice that now I'm a part of them in a very real way.

[Julian Morgans]

As you were giving this speech, did you feel a bit emotional? I mean, like, on the one hand, this is like a weird sort of life experiment, but then on the other hand, it's almost like a little wake, like a little funeral for your foot.

[Shiny]

That's exactly what it was. It's absolutely awake for the foot is what it was. And that's a fantastic description. It was very emotional and heartwarming, and it was just really, really nice that not only do I have that many friends, but that many friends who are close enough with. To me. And awkwardly weird enough to share in that experience with me. Yeah.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah, That's a beautiful thing.

[Shiny]

So we all took our bites. And I mean that literally. It's, you know, just a. Like not even a 1 by 1 inch cube. It's probably 2 centimeters by 2 centimeters, if that. Everybody got a. A nice little chunk there. And while it was tasty, it was incredibly, incredibly chewy. People were chewing on me for three, four minutes. I had one friend who had to spit me out. I swear, she got nothing but tendon. And she was just chewing on that thing forever. And she said, I'm so sorry, I can't do it. It's got. It's. It's gotten too weird because she got in her head about it that she just sit there like, gnawing on my flesh for minutes. Bless her heart. She could not do it anymore. What? Oh, God. And what's.

[Julian Morgans]

Talk to me about the flavor.

[Shiny]

People always talk about it, you know, like Papua New Guinea. Oh, it tastes like pig. But it didn't taste like any pig I've ever had. It was beefy. It was incredibly beefy. It's like bison or wild game. And maybe it's because of what he used for the marinade or the brine, whatever he used. Maybe it's because there was so little fat in it, but it would. Did not taste like pork at all. And I have a couple theories about that. One is that pig and Papua New guinea does not taste like pig. We have in the US More probably in Australia as well. It's wild boar. Does not taste like the pork that we have in the stores. It's not something that you're necessarily gonna go pick up and taste. So maybe wild boar is a lot more gamey and a lot rougher to eat, and then it's kind of like people. But for me, it was incredibly beefy. And my God, was it chewy. It was so chewy, man. Well, I was chewy. I gotta remember that. That's me. I'm talking about. Yeah, I just chew on a thing forever. And then you had to take a swig of mimosa, try to choke it down. But the flavor was good.

[Julian Morgans]

What would you give it out of 10, like, as a meat? You know, if you went to like, a Korean barbecue and they were serving this stuff up all the time, like, as a meat, would you choose it? And what would you give it out of 10?

[Shiny]

I mean, flavor, great flavor. 8 out of 10. Good stuff. But the fact that it was so chewy, I. You. You don't want to. You don't want to eat anything like that unless you're in a survival situation. It's terrible just sitting there chewing on it. And really, it. Oh, part of the problem was it should have been maybe sous vide for a good period of time to soften up those connective tissues, because that was a problem. There's a whole bunch of ligaments and tendons running right through that muscle. No fat whatsoever. And so you get a very. A very tough meat like that really should have been maybe braised or roasted to break that down really well. And then it probably would have been better. So if ever you're going to eat people, make sure cook it low and slow. You gotta treat that meat properly, otherwise you're going to very tough dinner.

[Julian Morgans]

Okay, that's good to know. I'll file that away in my back pocket.

[Shiny]

The little tidbits you pick up along the way that are important.

[Julian Morgans]

That's right. And, and, and so what was the mood after you've eaten these little cubes?

[Shiny]

Lots of good jokes going around. I tell people that was the time. As inside, 10 people at once.

[Julian Morgans]

Good.

[Shiny]

You know, I only lived in that town for about another month. After that, a month and a half, I had gone back to work and kind of gotten tired of it and was able to pick up a construction job with my brother down in Texas and decided to move away. And so it. What really was kind of a major pivot in my life because I was leaving my job, leaving a friends I had had for a long time, moving to a whole new state and trying to start a whole new life and also trying to figure out my prosthetic leg and doing all that. You know, I kind of felt like I had the energy on tap to do it now because I had that newfound appreciation for life. And within God, a couple months coming down here, I actually met my wife. And that's cool. Started dating her, and things have been kind of fantastic, you know.

[Julian Morgans]

Hey, it's time for a quick ad break here, but please don't go anywhere. Stick around because we'll be right back.

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[Shiny]

AI had the time of my life. Hey, I never failed this way before.

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[Julian Morgans]

So it sounds to me like you divide your life into. With foot and. And post foot, and it sounds like the post foot era is actually really positive and in some ways better.

[Shiny]

I feel a lot more, definitely a lot more grounded and definitely a lot more willing to put myself and my needs for first in. In a lot of situations. I'm not willing to let people take advantage of me as I once did. And I don't put up with toxic traits in people and finding out who those people in my life were that were causing trouble and letting them not be part of my life. And that was kind of a big thing to have that turning point and realize that about myself and other people and saying, you know what? I don't need to be part of this. And finding good people and nurturing those good people and fostering those relationships and nurturing those relationships and building that community around me, and that's been really, really nice. And finding like, all this love and support that I always wanted and I always yearned for. I just had to figure out to drop the. And the pretenses and go be honest with myself and other people and just go do it. It's been really fantastic.

[Julian Morgans]

So nice, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It feels to me like the next beat in this story is when you decided to take this onto Reddit and, and the story got out and it really, it was picked up by a whole bunch of publications. It became a bit viral. Can you tell me about that experience?

[Shiny]

So I had been on Reddit for a couple years, and I appreciated Reddit for its weirdness. There's a lot of. Was it the Vault? The Reddit Vault has got some fantastic, fantastic stories. And I was like, okay, I got a good story. Let's type this out. I really, really enjoyed just kind of talking about it, because up to then I hadn't really told many people about the whole thing. I mean, I was dating my wife at that time, and she knew about it. She knew about it from our first date.

[Julian Morgans]

Can I just ask. Let's just zoom in on that for a minute. You're on the first date and you're telling this woman, there's something you should know about me. I once ate my own foot. I mean, what was, what was her response?

[Shiny]

So she is a self professed professional dater and she had a whole, she has a whole list of first date questions that she asked people. And one of them, because, you know, you might get to know somebody and there's a whole bunch of litmus tests. So she'd ask people, like, what's a, what's a movie that you cried at? And depending on the answer, she could say like, oh, this is person who like is emotional or is in touch with themselves or someone who's an absolute jackass. And one of her first date questions was, what's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten? And she was telling me like, like, you know, like I, I dated a guy. I went on a date with a guy who said cooked onions, which is weirdest thing he ever ate. It's like, well, obviously we're never going out again because that's ridiculous. You obviously don't like food whatsoever, so let's just not do that anymore. Yeah. And so I told her, I'm not going to tell you the weirdest thing I've ever eaten, but I'll give you the second weirdest. And that was the pickled pigs here. And she said, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's not how this game works. You need to tell me. I was like, you gotta understand, this is kind of out there. She's like, no, I want to know. And so I told her and she's like, you're bullshitting me. You're a liar. But I like where this is going. And so she kind of laughed it off as kind of a lark. Like, okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. We went on a fantastic date. And a few weeks later I had some friends come down and visit. And there's a couple of the friends who had partaken in the dinner. And she's like, well, he kind of told me he did this thing. And they're like, oh, yeah, we were there. That happened. We did that. And that's when it kind of sunk into her that, oh, this is a real thing and he wasn't bullshitting me at all. And she's always thought that was just kind of a funny thing. Like, okay, this guy's kind of out there, but at least he's fun about it.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah, it's nice that she saw it that way anyway. But I wanted to. Well, because we're kind of dancing around the cultural taboos. You know, eating people is wrong according to most people. So I'm curious that, like, through this process, have you had any blowback? Have you been contacted by any people who are like, shiny? That's disgusting. You're an animal. You're. You're a monster.

[Shiny]

Oh, definitely. There was a bunch of people saying that it was demonic and against God and against nature and that I'm obviously insane and should seek help. And I got a bunch of referrals off of Reddit to anti suicide lines and stuff like that, as people like to do. And only once in real life does someone like, say, oh, no, don't do that. One of the friends of my brother, I told him, he's like, oh, don't ever tell anybody that. That's messed up. You should have never done that. That's a terrible, terrible thing. I was like, man, you go to sex clubs and do meth and heroin and have sex in front of people, but you're telling me this little nice moment with my friends is a messed up thing? Like, come on. And so I think people who get wrapped up in their own, who are wrapped up in their own cultural issues are the ones who are going to not listen to the full breadth of the story and get hung up on it. Because, like, people chew on their nails all the time. It's not a taboo for a woman to go and freeze dry her placenta and put it in a milkshake later. I mean, that's not too much different from what I'm doing. And that's like, you know, all I did was take advantage of the meat part of it. And I think the icky part about that for people is the fact that you don't hear about that sort of cannibalism or auto cannibalism outside of some sort of horrific tragedy or violence. And there was no violence in this, I think, on Wikipedia, on instance of cannibalism. Mine is the only one that wasn't from a tragedy or violence. There was nothing associated with it. The only violent act was, you know, I was involved in a car accident. And outside of that, it was a super nice little thing and trying to tell people that this was a collection of people coming together and it was a really nice event. And, you know, people showing up and supporting me and being is all out of kindness and love. It's not like a bunch of devil worshipers getting together and having a sacrifice and eating the flesh of a man. There's no, no negative connotations thereof. It was just kind of a nice chill brunch.

[Julian Morgans]

Do you think that there might be. I Mean, I'm just theorizing here, just hypothesizing, could there be some sort of evolutionary reason why we. By where there's an innate cultural disgust of cannibalism or auto cannibalism in your case?

[Shiny]

Well, I mean, there should be, right? Because of the diseases associated with it. And we looked into this before we did it. We looked into legality of it, and we looked into the health aspects of it. So you. The obvious one is prion disease. So, you know, it's the same thing as mad cow disease. When you consume large amounts of flesh of your own people and whatnot, you get what's called prions. And prions mainly come from brain tissue, but there's a small amount in all tissues. And a prion is basically a protein that isn't folded right. That will cause other proteins to misfold. And that's when you start getting, like, a whole bunch of brain issues. And so we looked into this, and you get instances of prion disease in cannibalistic tribes, but it's mainly where they're eating the brains. And it's very, very low risk if you're just eating meat, and it's extremely low risk if you're just eating one bite of meat. So. Right. I knew that, like, I have no bloodborne diseases. The meat was cleaned out. There's no tumors. There's no. Nothing like that. There's no infection. It's completely healthy. And then we looked into the legality of it, and in the US it's not really illegal. It's illegal in Idaho, and I'm pretty sure that's because of the Donner Party. And it's illegal in Alaska. And outside of that, there's no real laws pertaining to cannibalism because all instances of cannibalism were like, people went crazy and ate people like Jeffrey Dahmer. And so it's not really. There's no crimes associated with it because there's not a much enough of it going on to charge anybody with it.

[Julian Morgans]

Shiny, I've got two more questions for you before you wrap up here.

[Shiny]

Bring it on.

[Julian Morgans]

So we're calling you Shiny. We're not using your real name. You want to be anonymous. And I wanted to. And I was just curious about why.

[Shiny]

Well, it's one of those things that the way the Internet works is if you get notoriety for one thing, that is what you are for the rest of your life as far as the Internet's concerned. And so if anybody looks you up, they're like, oh, here's this one thing this guy did, even though it's an insignificant part of your life, that's not who you are for, for perpetuity. It's like that old joke, like, you know, Henry the blacksmith, you know, he's a blacksmith. And you have John the sheep herder, her sheep, you know, but you, one goat. And that's kind of how it goes. Like, you do one thing of notoriety, and that's just how you're known for the rest of your life. And that's really what I'm trying to avoid. I've got a whole breadth of stuff I got going on in my life that I don't need. Someone Googling me is like, oh, this is the guy who ate his leg. Because, you know, there is the stigma that goes along with that. But there's also. There's a lot more to me than just that.

[Julian Morgans]

Yeah. So what do you think that you've learned from this experience?

[Shiny]

Two things. That life is fragile and fleeting and you need to appreciate it and do what you can to make the most out of it. And I've learned how to make good friends. And the way you do that is you find people that are inherently good as far as you're concerned, and you invest in them. And what I mean by that is they have their own interests and they have their own flavors. And you, you focus on that and you build them up. If you have friends who were into outdoor stuff, you go and do outdoor stuff with them and you give them opportunities to do the things that they enjoy. And you just try to be part of the lives doing the things they do and take away everything that you can from that as far as those experiences and what you can take from that and build into your own life and also be open and be yourself completely with people, which is. It's horribly, horribly nerve wracking to do because the idea of putting yourself out there and people rejecting you is such a scary thing. But you're gonna find people who, despite all your flaws, will enjoy you and want to be around you and you build your little community. And if you can be open and honest with yourself and be open and honest with these people, invest in them and their hobbies and their passions. You're going to find that you can build this nice little community of just truly ride or die folks who are going to be there for you in the long run. I mean, I didn't have that ability growing up, and it was going through this experience where I tried this out and started developing these friends in this little community that I have, and it's been the. The best thing ever. It's what's brought me the most enjoyment and peace in my life.

[Julian Morgans]

That's so good. That's so nice. I think I came to this story thinking it was going to be this. This bizarre thing. And we've ended with this really beautiful rumination about the nature of friendship or the.

[Shiny]

Or.

[Julian Morgans]

Or the value of authenticity. And that's great. That's so good. Thank you. Thank you, Shiny. Thanks for sharing your story.

[Shiny]

Okay. I hope I didn't ruin your podcast.

[Julian Morgans]

No, you just. You actually gave it a point. I was like. I was like, I'm not sure where this is going. What's the point of this? And now you've given it a point, and I can't thank you enough.

[Shiny]

Absolutely. This is a good time, man.

[Julian Morgans]

What It Was like is produced by Rachel Tuffrey. This episode was edited by Ellie Dickey, who also does our research. Our cover art is by Rich Akers. Our theme music was produced by Jimmy Saunders. And this whole thing has been a super real production. Foreign.

[Shiny]

Every day there's a new challenge to face.

[Julian Morgans]

So meet Trimble, the technology company that connects your physical and digital worlds, allowing.

[Shiny]

You to make decisions and take intelligent.

[Commercial Narrator]

Action to get the hard work done.

[Julian Morgans]

And the best part, you can do.

[Shiny]

It all faster than you've ever thought possible.

[Julian Morgans]

Check them [e-mail] you ready to turn.

[Shiny]

Data points into decision points or turn deadlines into finish lines? How about turning possibilities into profits?

[Julian Morgans]

Then turn to Trimble.

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