The scare of human parts served on menus
Eating out may come in convenient as cooking could be laborious sometimes. It is a lot of fun creating space for a meal out opportunity with friends once in a while. Most of the time, such outings help friends to catch up with each other while relaxing over sumptuous meals.
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The downside, however, is the unfortunate likelihood of tucking into a plate of soup or stew made with human parts. Abominable? Well, an incredible news item on Yahoo News last week shocked me to the bone and thank God I am not adventurous when it comes to food in general and eating from unknown sources.
According to the story on Yahoo News, a restaurant in the Nigerian State of Anambra had to be shut down after authorities reportedly discovered that it had been selling dishes made with human meat. The police are said to have recovered at least two fresh human heads when they arrested eleven people from the restaurant including the owner, six women and four men following a tip-off. The blood-soaked human heads were found wrapped in cellophane sheets.
It is often said that food is our friend and therefore we should eat the right kinds. Okay, but when it comes to eating outside, how does one tell whether the food on one’s plate is a friend or a foe? With the sprawling of “chop bars”, “check-check” spots and other eateries across the country, it would be a difficult task to decipher the type of ingredients any restaurant would use in its cooking.
The story from the restaurant in the Anambra State of Nigeria may not be an isolated case. Yes, it is possible that for all one knows, we are eating human meat anytime we enjoy a sumptuous meal made with meat at a restaurant or “chop-bar” tucked away in some remote corner.
It beats one’s imagination as to why anyone would cut up human parts and use them to cook for public consumption? Have the goats, the sheep, the cows and all the bush meat reared specifically for food run out? What has become of our world for restaurants to be turning their customers into cannibals in this day and age?
Apparently, in the Anambra State restaurant story, a pastor who was shocked to know that what he had eaten was human meat complained to the police. A piece of the human meat, he said, was sold for 700 Naira.
This brings into perspective the horse meat scandal that almost crippled meat lovers in the UK last year when it was discovered that some shops were selling horse meat, a practice that had gone on for some time. As it turned out, some fast food joints were using minced meat from horses for their burgers and other meat stuff.
Even for horse meat, there was so much anger and aggrandisement in the UK to the extent that the sale of genuine beef is said to have dropped drastically. The controversy ended up destroying consumer trust in beef, while many readily took meat and other meat products off their family dishes.
A few times, we have had our own media scare on foods served in some “chop bars”. The stories about the use of vultures or dogs in meals served in some “chop bars” should be very fresh in anyone’s mind. Unfortunately, such revelations have not deterred people from eating out, especially from unknown and unfamiliar sources.
The fact is, when it comes to food, we tend to focus more on the taste and quantity rather than quality and health. Luckily for us in Ghana, shifting from meat should not be a struggle because smoked fish is in abundance, relatively cheaper and nutritious too compared to beef, goat or bush meat which has become a delicacy for some people.
The source of such bush meat is sometimes questionable though. Travelling along the Accra-Cape Coast road, the familiar scene of fresh or dried bush meat ready for sale catches prompt attention. If it is true that those people use unorthodox means to catch the animals then that should be a health worry for those who eat them.
And so, though a delicacy for some, bush meat has a notorious reputation elsewhere. Recently, a British newspaper reported that bush meat from 40 different animals were confiscated in a police raid on a food shop in Paris. The 200lb haul, which was reported to have come from the Central African Republic, was described as unfit for human consumption.
Though one man’s meat is said to be another man’s poison, for those who would want to play it safe, the horrible lesson from the Anambra State restaurant episode is to learn to take a break from any red meat. After all, it is widely believed that red meat is unhealthy compared to white meat which includes fish and chicken.
As for human meat, my gosh, why would it ever cross anybody’s mind? I thought cannibalism had disappeared from this earth for the better but no, it seems not. Let us therefore be watchful as we go out for that meal.
