Surprises on the menu: what does human flesh taste like?

We can just ask Nicolas Cocaign, the 39 year old French prisoner known as “The Cannibal of Rouen.” Everything happened in a jail in southern France, which had 140%, more inmates than was permitted

The director decided to group the convicts in groups of 3 in cells meant for one prisoner. He hand picked the groupings, and paid no attention to the degree of danger each convict posed, due to poor internal management.

On November 2, 2007 Cocaign killed one of his cellmates, 31 year old Thierry Baudry. Cocaign told Baundry told to wash his hands after he came out of the bathroom, and according to Cocaign he ignored him and gave a dirty look. A month later, Cocaign took some scissors and stabbed him several times, then suffocated with a garbage bag to make sure he was dead. Later, with a razor blade pierced his chest and pulled out a piece of lung thinking it was the heart. He decided to eat a piece of raw lung and the other piece he cooked with onions and rice on a makeshift stove that was in the same cell.

During the trial Cocaign claimed to have enjoyed the act, saying that he was curious about the taste of human flesh and “it was as tender as a deer.” The third cellmate was accused of complicity but cleared quickly. He could not deal with the event and committed suicide in prison shortly thereafter.

The coroner who performed the autopsy on the victim told the court that Baudry was alive when Cocaign removed the lung. The prosecution sought 30 years. Rent apartments in Paris and walk without fear in this wonderful city. “The Cannibal of Rouen” will remain in prison for many, many years.