I would hazard a guess that while Swift was a brilliant satirist, he likely drew from what was probably not taboo.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Psalmanazar : Psalmanazar was supposedly one of the real life people he borrowed from..he was an imposter who claimed to be from Formosa(Taiwan) and spun tales about human sacrifice and priests eating the hearts of young boys.

Now this might not have been entirely untrue because China(definitely not the same as Formosa as those times..but in the broader geographical region) definitely had a recipe book for cooking convicts and each crime had a custom recipe and even which parts of the body was used etc.

In India, thugees regularly sacrificed children because they were pure and blemishless. Mythology is full of children being killed by the Asuras or the ‘evil kings’ of prophesied enemies by snatching them up as infants right after they were born and killed.

Child sacrifice in Pre Colombian cultures were not uncommon either. Incas certainly offered children as sacrifice but likely didn’t rely on children for sustenance. Do you see the theme of religion seeking children as sacrifice? Which meant the priests likely ate them first...prior to becoming pastoral settlers and farmers, children were a burden to hunter gatherer communities. They held them back and the women were occupied with the raising of children. They had as few children as they could...as they settled down and started farming and owning properties and the concept of inheritance occurred wrt new ‘wealth’, then having a lot of children not just for labour but also for insurance became a desirable necessity.

Let’s not forget the filial sacrifice in the Old Testament..the very first Abrahamic lore starts with a father sacrificing his son on the mount. It occurs again and again in many of the stories of offering burnt sacrifices of children to God in the many stories. Later, there are many prohibitions against child and human sacrifice which means that it was a common practice earlier...likely with the cannonites and who worshipped Baal and Moloch as idols. I wouldn’t forget the Assyrians either...

Having said that, the Spartans were known to have exposed their infants..especially the sickly ones. Don’t know if they consumed them tho’..but these were a warrior people and not by those conducting religious priestly activity. But once again it’s a form of euthanasia/eugenics because they only wanted strong future warriors. And of course, Cato’s plea for Carthago Delenda Est because they were child sacrificers.

Time and again, we see sacrifice of humans ..and especially children..in our history. The more I think about it, every single culture in myth and lore has child sacrifice. It’s actually remarkable...agriculture probably changed that because more hands means more land could be cultivated which meant there would be enough food from the land.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sacrifice : there seems to be more!

Even Grimm’s Tales was pretty with Hansel and Gretel being caught by the witch and readied for the stew pot. The original fairy tales definitely wasn’t meant to be a metaphor or satire.

Altho..this..in our modern times with its illustrations and witticisms offers a gentle reminder to children and adults alike as to who we really are:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Children-Grisly-Recipe/dp/18...

Phew!