Pioneer Memorial near Donner Lake, California USA

Cannibalism most often refers to the consumption by humans of human flesh, although the terminology may be extended to any animal of more than 1500 other species which under some circumstance prey on others of their own species or kind.

Occasionally, the term is used figuratively – such as to claim that Memphis was "ravaged by the cannibalism of its stone for the building of medieval Cairo". More often, it means exactly what's marked on the tin.

The contexts in which the voyager is most likely to encounter cannibalism include:

• Survival cannibalism in times of disaster, such as the archetypal shipwreck or plane crash on a desert island or snow-covered mountaintop. Explorers lost and stranded, such as the Franklin expedition or the Donner party, also fit this mould.
• Funerary cannibalism, in which a handful of native cultures believed that eating a piece of a fallen comrade (or even a fallen adversary) would allow this person's characteristics to be somehow inherited.
• Medical cannibalism, in which some portion of a deceased person is used as an ingredient in an unproven remedy or medicine.

Occasionally, cannibalism will appear as a footnote to some other, criminal activity. There are also plenty of examples of false allegations of cannibalism being used to vilify anything from one person (such as the witch in the Grimm's fairy tale) to an entire people. Cannibalism does exist, but no group has ever relied upon it is their primary staple food and still remained numerous enough to survive into the modern age.

While nominally rare, cannibalism has existed in all geographic regions and in all time periods. There is some overlap with literary tourism, wherever an author sees fit to introduce it as a modest proposal to the reader. There is an even greater overlap with historical tourism as the taboos around the practice have meant that it, like corruption, is often reported in the past tense.

Eat

Americas

United States of America

• 1 Donner Pass, Old Donner Summit Road, Donner, California. There's no party like a Donner Party. One of the more infamous incidents in the history of the Emigrant Trails – a group of three colonization trails which originated together in Independence, Missouri then split further west into various branches to go to Utah (Mormon Trail), to California gold rush country or to the Oregon Territory. Everything that could go wrong for Donner did, from clever shortcuts which proved unsuitable for colonial wagons to infighting within the party to falling badly behind schedule, ultimately ending up trapped in a snowbound northern California mountain pass in October in a year when winter came early. The Donner name is now on a road, a tiny village, a ski ranch and a summit near the mountain pass where the last surviving members of the party were rescued the following January after enduring conditions so harsh that some were said to have eaten the flesh of their fallen comrades. (updated Mar 2022)
• Museum of Us, 1350 El Prado, San Diego, ☏ +1 619-239-2001. W-Su 10AM-5PM. Former Museum of Man in Balboa Park. Various exhibits include one, "Cannibals: Myth & Reality" which covers a range of topics from survival cannibalism and funerary cannibalism to the use of human remains for unproven medicinal purposes. California's own Donner Party does rate a mention, as do historic practices as far distant as Polynesia. (updated Mar 2022)

Europe

Germany

• 2 Brüder-Grimm-Haus, Brüder-Grimm-Straße 80, 36396 Steinau an der Straße, Germany, ☏ +49 6663 7605. Onetime home of the Brothers Grimm, who infamously concocted a tale of a witch seeking to fatten two small children, Hansel and Gretel, for the table. The accusation of cannibalism serves as a literary pretext to somehow justify all of the harm these two evil hellions perpetrate against this poor old lady in the remainder of the text. (updated Mar 2022)

Ireland

• Dublin is the birthplace of one Johnathan Swift, author of tomes including Gullivers Travels. Infamously, he suggested A Modest Proposal by which "the people should be relieved by the sale of their numerous children as food for the rich", drawing attention to the hardships of the Irish in the era of the potato famine. A few minor landmarks (such as a school in a Dublin suburb and a road in Trim, County Meath) bear his name, There's some commemoration of the larger famine in Dublin, including a replica ("The Jeanie Johnston: An Irish Famine Story") of one of the ships which brought emigrants to the Americas to escape starvation in Ireland.

Ukraine

• Holodomor Genocide Museum (Національний музей Голодомору-геноциду), Hlibivka, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, ☏ +380 442544512. Temporarily closed.. There have been many brutal famines in Ukraine, the breadbasket of Europe, but none were worse than Stalin's genocidal starvation of more than two million Ukrainian people in 1932-33 (the Holodomor). Many of the horror stories of the era include people being forced to eat their fallen comrades to survive. There are many stones, parks, statues and other memorials in various countries to commemorate or mourn the Holodomor, but this is likely the largest. (updated Apr 2022)

Respect

It has been common at various points to stereotype indigenous peoples as cannibals – even where there was no scientific basis for the claim. For instance, the original Spanish conquistadors were prone to claim to their Imperial masters that much of the Caribbean was inhabited by "savages" who dined on human flesh. Presumably, if the civilized, God-fearing motherland were to hear that peaceful natives abroad were being harmed by European explorers there may be outrage, but if they are told there's no one there but savages or cannibals, Europe would be more willing to turn a blind eye to the actions of its own explorers and adventurers.

Absent some extreme condition (such as shipwreck, famine or war) cannibalism is rare. Don't just assume that all of the natives in any given new community will engage in it.

Stay safe

There is a risk of certain diseases, such as "mad cow", being passed through the food chain. If invited to engage in funerary cannibalism where the deceased was (or may have been) victim to a communicable disease, it may be best to decline – even if doing so offends your gracious hosts in some manner. As with vegetarianism, veganism or other dietary restrictions, it's best to inform your hosts in advance to avoid awkward misunderstandings.