Cannibalism serves as a metaphor for humankind's primitive interconnection to others. To consume other human beings was not only to defeat them completely but to partake of their individual strengths and weaknesses. This concept has been mitigated into epithets for political adversaries and into terms of endearment for lovers.
I hope it won't seem impolite, or as people say these days, inappropriate, in a conference on "Food: Nature and Culture," to address the question of cannibalism. ...