T2K Cuisine - Food in the aftermath

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by headquarters

I have seen in movies and read about people that have human flesh in their diet :
they may develop some sort of neural problem leading to shaking hands,jitters etc .

Two things came to mind when I read that:

1) Mad Cow Disease -- the human flesh may be transmitting some sort of disease, enzymes, or prions that are incompatible with human digestion or metabolism.

2) Kuru, also called the Laughing Disease. In the Western Pacific (in Indonesia?) there are a group of people called the Fore. They regularly practiced cannibalism, and when the brain was eaten, there was a chance you could get Kuru, which screws up your nerve impulses and causes muscular spasms. At its worst (usually right before death), Kuru causes spasms in the diaphragm that make the person kind of sound like they're laughing.

Here's a Wiki link for Kuru
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_%28disease%29

It turns out that both are a form of spongiform encephalopathy, and are caused by prions -- which is just a fancy way of saying that nasty proteins are eating your brain.

[headquarters]

a rump steak or filet of breast is OK , but once you start getting into brains and marrow you can get the tell tale shaking hands ?

My players might ask themselves - "why is he harping on about this all of a sudden ??"

No particular reason ,guys

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by headquarters

a rump steak or filet of breast is OK , but once you start getting into brains and marrow you can get the tell tale shaking hands ?

It's possible to get spongiform encephalopathy from the meat of an infected creature, but in a human, most prions appear to be concentrated in the brain. I did some further Googling, and it appears that if they're your own prions, you don't get spongiform encephalopathy, but prions from somewhere else can cause spongiform encephalopathy. It is hypothesized that prions from somewhere else cause an immune system reaction, causing the proteins already in your brain to fold into a shape that kills cells and neurons. But scientists don't really know for sure what the mechanism is that causes spongiform encephalopathy.

(My previous psychiatrist, Dr Aneta Schunemeyer, told me once that scientists and doctors understand less than 20% of how the brain actually works -- and most of that understanding is rough and sketchy. She told me that psychiatry and neurology are more like arts than sciences.)

[HorseSoldier]

Originally Posted by headquarters

a rump steak or filet of breast is OK , but once you start getting into brains and marrow you can get the tell tale shaking hands ?

My players might ask themselves - "why is he harping on about this all of a sudden ??"

No particular reason ,guys

It's unlikely unless you're dealing with a population where Kuru is endemic, such as the aforementioned folks in New Guineau. I don't think it's been identified elsewhere (one of my cohort-mates in Grad School did a pretty involved paper and subsequent presentation on it), but I suppose that's possibly because no one has looked for it.

And, of course, in an RPG there's nothing to say it hasn't turned up unexpectedly in a way that would make surviving scientists scratch their heads in confusion.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by HorseSoldier

It's unlikely unless you're dealing with a population where Kuru is endemic, such as the aforementioned folks in New Guineau. I don't think it's been identified elsewhere (one of my cohort-mates in Grad School did a pretty involved paper and subsequent presentation on it), but I suppose that's possibly because no one has looked for it.

And, of course, in an RPG there's nothing to say it hasn't turned up unexpectedly in a way that would make surviving scientists scratch their heads in confusion.

Boy, that'd make an interesting and gruesome civilization-ending pandemic -- maybe it started out in the food supply, then mutated into an airborne version...

[Mock26]

Originally Posted by headquarters

a rump steak or filet of breast is OK , but once you start getting into brains and marrow you can get the tell tale shaking hands ?

My players might ask themselves - "why is he harping on about this all of a sudden ??"

No particular reason ,guys

I cannot speak of human marrow (and I do not wish to), but slow roasted veal bones produces some incredibly tasty marrow!

[Webstral]

On a more benign note, the coastal population of New England eats a lot of fish and other seafood. The list of Canadian targets indicates that the Atlantic Canadians really got punished in the nuclear exchange. (Sorry, eh) A lot of the population, a lot of the fishing boats, and a lot of the Canadian Navy and Coast Guard have been destroyed. First District has led the way in exploiting the fishing opportunities that have "opened up" at George's Bank.

There have been some unhappy incidents between Canadians and Americans over fishing at George's Bank. While the USCG and the fleet under its protection seldom have instigated the problems, the American Guardians haven't set high standards for intervening unless things appear to be going against the UBF, the Gloucestermen, or other American fishermen. One might even go so far as to say that some of the First District raids against pirates along the coasts of the Atlantic Provinces have been based on flimsy definitions of piracy and even weaker evidence. This is going to be a problem later during Reconstruction, as the Canadians aren't likely to forget that ships and marines flying the Stars and Stripes made some very questionable incursions into the Canadian littoral.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I don't condone combat between Americans and Canadians in any way, shape, or form. This is simply my read on how things would evolve based on published materials, the nature of Twilight: 2000, and the natural consequences of some of my own creations. Also, the idea that the naval firepower of First District has been focused on securing fishing privileges and other actions for MilGov helps explain why the Coast Guard hasn't dealt with John Carlucci and the UBF.

In many parts of New England, wild produce of the woods plays an important part of the diet. Obviously, small game and fowl are important. Other foods, including mushrooms and tubers that grow throughout the New England forests, supplement diets of domesticated foods. People gathering these foods, as well as people salvaging useful goods from abandoned tracts of housing and industry, are at great risk to the bands of marauders that roam the areas outside the towns. Good scouts are worth their weight in gold to everyone.

Webstral

[jester]

Kuru aka Mad Cow Disease aka Jacob Krutchfelds Disease is all the same.

It comes not from bone marrow, but the nerve tissue of infected creatures. Most associate it with the brain, which is the biggest nerve of course, but other nerves also are infected and their injestion causes the disease.

On a note, a person can have it but it is dormant like any other disease, and well if they end up on the platter the people who eat the infected tissues have a chance of getting it, but it developing well that is part of the question how it affects some and not others.

They also have the theory that if the meat is cooked to a specific temperature then the disease is killed, much like cooking pork or chicken.

So, if you ever find yourself in New Guinea or the South Seas and are the guest of honor....not that guest of honor Make sure you ask for your WELL DONE!