Comments on: Aztec Human Stew, Anyone?

By: Kerim

Kerim — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 04:05:51 +0000

This was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight. Samantha Bee interviewed the CEO who said that he originally planned to market it to anthropology students. To which SB responded “Gee, you could make hundreds of dollars.” Clearly she underestimates the market power of anthropologists.

By: DrK

DrK — Fri, 27 May 2005 06:36:04 +0000

Actually, tak, that thing about the steamed buns filled with human meat is not original to Hong Kong cinema. I don’t know the name of the movie you’re referring to, but I’m not surprised it turned up. There are historical references to “ren rou baozi” (human meat steamed-buns) from Song dynasty historical sources! I’m not sure whether the context was a famine, which is the usual background to cannibalism in the Chinese historical record, or some kind of twisted gourmand. But they were also an item on the menu at the tavern run by demonic innkeepers in a famous Ming dynasty novel (“The Water Margin” aka “All Men are Brothers”). Also, the medical literature often lists human flesh as a cure for certain diseases such as tuberculosis. Like a lot of the mythology and folklore in Hong Kong cinema, the “ren rou baozi” have quite an ancient historial background.

By: tak

tak — Fri, 27 May 2005 01:19:37 +0000

If it’s not already posted there, this is definitely boing-worthy! It reminds me of a Hong Kong horror/comedy flick that came out a decade ago about steamed dim-sum buns filled with human-meat (I wonder what it was called…)

By: goesh

goesh — Thu, 26 May 2005 16:58:28 +0000

I’m old enough to start thinking I’ve seen and heard most of it until something like this comes along. I got a good laugh at Hofu until I started reading about the cultural exploitation that accompanies it.