The most difficult can­ni­bal­ism riddles

During the Congo Civil War in 1989, Pygmies were killed and eaten by both sides of the war, who regarded them as subhuman. Sinafasi Makelo, a representative of Mbuti pygmies, asked the UN Security Council to recognize cannibalism as a crime against humanity and an act of genocide.

Eating your own and closely related species is generally a bad idea, as there are species-specific parasites and germs that might get transmitted. But eating brain, bone marrow, and the spinal cord is particularly dangerous, as you may get deadly prion diseases like kuru.

Many historians believe that cannibalism was rare or even nonexistent among Carib people. In 1503 Queen Isabella ruled that only people who were better off under slavery (especially cannibals) could legally be taken as slaves. This provided Spaniards an incentive for identifying various groups as cannibals to enslave them.

'Hansel and Gertel' is an old German fairy tale, recorded (but not created) by the Grimm brothers. The practice of leaving children to fend for themselves, as well as cannibalistic practices (the behaviour of witch) were not uncommon in Medieval Europe during famine.