Considered barbarous, atrocious, and inconceivable to most of the Westernized world, cannibalism was outlawed in its last thriving community in New Guinea in the early 1960's. However, it survives in remote regions of New Guinea, tiny pockets of East Africa, the jungle between Argentina and Paraguay, and deep in Brazil's isolated Matto Grosso; substantiating the validity of consuming one's own species. As a bona fide modern taboo, marked both by repugnance and enthrallment, cannibalism is an occurring practice with numerous legitimate rationales. From ritualistic funeral rites to survival methods, this act has a permanent place in human history in both prehistoric and present times. (Askenasy, 13)

The actual term cannibalism comes from a mispronunciation of the name "Caribs," referring to the natives in the Caribbean who consumed human flesh. Discovered by Christopher Columbus and his men in the Bahamas, the Carib Indians ate the meat...