Why are people cannibals?

Answer 1

As a rule - no.

Even in those areas where cannibalism was regularly but rarely practised, it was always more about the ritual than the actual meat. A recurring thought was that if you ate your defeated enemy, his strength became yours.

The 2nd most common reason for cannibalism was sheer necessity. People getting trapped somewhere and slowly starving.

There are several well documented cases where either survivors began to feed on those who died first, and even when someone was chosen and killed to provide food for the remaining.

Then of course, there are always the crazies.

Someone w/o any better reason than "because I want to"´who have eaten parts of another human.

Answer 2

Cannibalism may occur due to cultural practices, survival instincts in extreme situations, ritualistic traditions, mental illness, or as a result of psychological disorders. It is not considered a normal behavior in most societies and is often viewed as taboo.

Answer 3

For so people cannibalism is apart of their religion or culture. They think its the right way of life, however, the people being eaten could be crimnials, murders or worst. It's kind-of like a sacifice, for the god in their religion. If that's not the case, some people just might like the taste of it...

Answer 4

Many people enjoy meeting new people. A cannibal enjoys eating new people!

Seriously now, here are some of the possible reasons:

1. It is a cultural norm. They likely believe, culturally, that eating someone gives them the attributes of that person. Endocannibalism is eating members of the same community, and they may eat the recently deceased as part of the grieving process. Exocannibalism is eating someone from outside of the community, and that might be done to celebrate defeating an enemy.

2. Dire necessity. For instance, take shipwreck survivors. In dire situations, they may eat their dead in order to avoid starvation. However, homicidal cannibalism is illegal in the Western world, even if one has to in order to survive.

3. Mental illness. However, the DSM does not the compulsion to eat human flesh as a mental illness. Yet a number of people in the Western world who have engaged in cannibalism are indeed people who are considered mentally ill, if not criminally insane. Examples include Albert Fish, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Issei Sagawa. Cases of autophagia (self-cannibalism) are not unknown either.