Human Blood Pudding
Dr. Magnus Pyke was a scientific advisor to the British Ministry of Food during World War II. In 1969, during a lecture at the Royal Institution in London, he revealed the following:
They could have called it Soylent Black.
An even more striking example of the way in which food taboos can hamper good nutrition, even among so-called scientifically advanced people, also occurred during the war years in Great Britain.
At that time large amounts of human blood were collected from such people as were prepared to give it. The blood was centrifuged, the plasma put aside for parenteral injection into those victims of bombing that might need it, and the red corpuscles discarded.
Again the scientific advisers to the minister of food put forward a scheme to make use of the red-blood corpuscles, so self-sacrificingly contributed by patriotic donors, and manufacture from it black pudding for distribution on the food ration.
The curious anthropological phenomenon then emerged that although the British were prepared to consume each other's blood by vein, they considred its ingestion by mouth was a variant of cannibalism and therefore disgusting.
At that time large amounts of human blood were collected from such people as were prepared to give it. The blood was centrifuged, the plasma put aside for parenteral injection into those victims of bombing that might need it, and the red corpuscles discarded.
Again the scientific advisers to the minister of food put forward a scheme to make use of the red-blood corpuscles, so self-sacrificingly contributed by patriotic donors, and manufacture from it black pudding for distribution on the food ration.
The curious anthropological phenomenon then emerged that although the British were prepared to consume each other's blood by vein, they considred its ingestion by mouth was a variant of cannibalism and therefore disgusting.
They could have called it Soylent Black.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette - Dec 18, 1969
Comments
Definitely does not match my idea of pudding.
Posted by KDP on 10/07/20 at 10:28 AM
They could have used the blood in cattle feed and diverted to humans the oats/grain it displaced. They could also have used it on crops to boost production (the 'blood meal fertilizer' you see in garden centers is just dried blood).
I would love to know the logic behind: "Malnutrition in Egypt . . . is compounded of . . . hatred of Israel." I'd love to see the chart on this: liking someone is 100 calories, being quite fond of them is 250 calories, head-over-heels in love is 2000 calories (although it is often true that someone quite madly in love stops eating).
I would love to know the logic behind: "Malnutrition in Egypt . . . is compounded of . . . hatred of Israel." I'd love to see the chart on this: liking someone is 100 calories, being quite fond of them is 250 calories, head-over-heels in love is 2000 calories (although it is often true that someone quite madly in love stops eating).
Posted by Phideaux on 10/07/20 at 01:55 PM
Beware of the gender difference in relations to food; an epidemiologist study showed that while women gain weight during marriage, men gain weight during divorce. Grief bacon is as bad as "love-of-Israel" bacon.
As for the cattle feed, you need more than oats and grain to survive. Let's give this blood to pigs and use the pig blood to fatten the chickens and hens.
As for the cattle feed, you need more than oats and grain to survive. Let's give this blood to pigs and use the pig blood to fatten the chickens and hens.
Posted by Yudith on 10/09/20 at 05:38 AM
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Category: Cannibalism | Food | 1940s | Blood