The Internet is the most powerful informational tool the world has ever known, a font of knowledge that would have had Renaissance thinkers green with envy. But there are things out there beyond the limits of our knowledge, things we really don’t want to know.
Last night, I found one.
I absolutely adore cooking. It’s where art and science intersect, a perfect union of creativity and tradition that I find intensely rewarding. Naturally, I look to Youtube and it’s hundreds of cooking channels for both inspiration and insight.
One channel is run by an Asian Chef who’s based in mainland China. None of his videos are in English and the entirety of the text is in Chinese, but the language of cooking transcends all and his videos are easy to follow thanks to the visual demonstrations.
The most popular videos are of pretty staple Asian cuisine, fried rice and dumplings just to name a few. But as I dived deeper, I found the dishes to be more outlandish and, quite frankly, shocking.
One video has him playing with a Bamboo Rat. Small rodents, resembling a Guinea Pig, but furry and cute none the less. The chef was feeding peanuts to it, lavishing the little critter with affection. Yet, to my absolute horror, the next scene showed him snapping the thing’s neck as it screeched in distress. A few scenes of snap editing showed him butchering the thing, before seasoning and cooking the meat.
I was disturbed, but who am I to cast judgement just because of a few traditional, albeit unusual delicacies?
Then my eyes locking onto thumbnails depicting the smiling chef holding what I assumed to be organ meats. Dark, gelatinous masses of gore that he sliced up and deep fried. My curiosity peaked, yet without any English captions or descriptions, there was no way of me knowing what those meats were.
I resumed scrolling, only to be greeted by a thumbnail that sent my stomach into knots. It was a human foot cradled next to the Chef’s ever smiling face. I watched, horrified as he stripped away the meat around the long, thin bones, before shallow frying it.
Fake, it has to be fake, I thought to myself.
The next video made me gasp in terror. A woman, bound in a dark cellar, completely shaven with her eyes plucked out. The Chef took out a hatchet and I watched her body grow limp as he separated her head from her shoulders. The head was then slow roasted until it browned; I vomited into a nearby trashcan.
I reported the Channel and it has now been taken down, hopefully pending a criminal investigation. But this morning, I found a note on my front door. On it was a single character, 肉. I had to know what it said, so I took it to a local Chinese takeout and asked the guy behind the counter.
He looked at me with nervous, sad eyes.
“Meat”, was all he said.