It sounds like a campfire horror story or a low-budget shock flick. Honestly, when the "Foot Taco" story first started circulating on Reddit several years ago, most people assumed it was just another elaborate internet hoax designed to farm karma. But it wasn't. It was real. We’re talking about a guy who actually invited his friends over to consume a portion of his own body.
The internet has a way of turning the macabre into a meme, but the story of the man eating human leg meat—his own leg, specifically—is a bizarre case study in ethics, medical waste, and the weirdly gray areas of the law.
How a Motorcycle Accident Led to a Dinner Party
It all started with a crash. In 2018, a Reddit user known as "IncrediblyShinyShart" (who later identified himself in interviews as Shiny) was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. A car sent him flying, and his foot was shattered beyond repair. Doctors told him he’d never walk on it again. In that moment of trauma, most people are just thinking about survival or insurance claims. Shiny was thinking about his foot. He didn't want to just throw it away.
He asked the doctors: "Can I keep it?"
Surprisingly, the answer was yes. Hospitals have different policies regarding "pathological waste," but generally, if you have a religious or personal reason to keep a body part, they’ll let you sign some paperwork and take it home. He did. He went home with his amputated leg in a plastic bag, stuffed it in his freezer, and started making phone calls.
The logistics are fascinatingly grim. He didn't just wake up and decide to be a cannibal. It was more of a "waste not, want not" curiosity combined with a dark sense of humor. He invited ten of his most open-minded friends over for a meal. Most said no. A few said yes.
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The Ethics of Autocannibalism
Is it illegal? Not really. In the United States, there is no federal law specifically banning cannibalism itself. The laws usually target how you get the meat—murder, desecration of a corpse, or grave robbing. But if you own the meat because it grew on your own tibia? You’re in a legal loophole.
Ethicists have chewed on this one for a while. Usually, cannibalism is associated with power imbalances or desperate survival situations like the 1972 Andes flight disaster. But this was consensual. It’s what academics call "autocannibalism."
He prepared the meat by marinating it overnight. He sautéed it with onions, peppers, salt, pepper, and lime juice. He served it on corn tortillas with a tomatillo salsa.
What did it actually taste like?
According to the host and his friends, it wasn't like chicken. It was more like buffalo, but with a tougher texture. It was very "beefy." He described the muscle as being extremely "well-worked" and lean. This makes sense; the lower leg is full of fibrous muscle meant for weight-bearing. It’s not exactly tenderloin.
One of the diners later did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit. He mentioned that the experience wasn't as traumatic as you’d think. It was just a group of friends having a weird, once-in-a-lifetime experience. They were all fully aware of where the meat came from. There was no deception.
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Why We Are Obsessed with the Man Eating Human Leg Story
Humans have a natural "disgust response" designed to keep us safe from disease. Prion diseases, like Kuru, are a real risk when consuming human brain tissue. However, consuming skeletal muscle is a different story biologically, though the psychological barrier remains massive for most of us.
Taboos exist for a reason. They maintain social order. When someone like Shiny breaks that taboo so casually—and legally—it creates a glitch in our collective understanding of "right" and "wrong."
- It challenges our concept of bodily autonomy.
- It forces us to define "victimless crimes."
- It highlights the strange bureaucracy of medical waste.
Most people who search for the "man eating human leg" story are looking for the gore. They want the photos (which, yes, he posted online). But once you get past the initial "ick" factor, the story is actually quite human. It’s about a guy trying to take control of a traumatic life event by turning his loss into a weird, communal story.
The Medical and Social Aftermath
Shiny didn't become a serial killer. He didn't develop a "taste" for it. He’s just a guy with one leg who happens to have a very strange story to tell at bars.
From a health perspective, he was lucky. The meat was his own, so he wasn't going to catch a foreign virus, but the risk of bacterial infection from improper storage is always high with any raw meat. He handled it like a chef, though. He cleaned it, prepped it, and cooked it thoroughly.
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The social fallout was surprisingly mild. While some people on the internet called him a monster, his actual social circle remained intact. His friends who participated don't regret it. They see it as a bonding moment—a dark, weird, "why not?" moment.
Making Sense of the Taboo
We live in a world where we’re increasingly disconnected from where our food comes from. We buy shrink-wrapped plastic trays of meat from the grocery store without thinking about the animal. In a twisted way, Shiny’s dinner party was the most "transparent" meal possible. He knew the source. He knew the "life" the meat lived. He knew exactly how it was processed.
If you're looking for actionable insights on how to handle a situation like this—though I hope you never have to—here is what the "Foot Taco" case teaches us about navigating the weird side of legality and ethics:
Know the Hospital Policy
If you ever want to keep a body part for religious or personal reasons, you need to state this clearly before the surgery. Hospitals are often required to incinerate biological "waste" unless a release form is signed.
Understand the Legal Gray Zones
Just because something isn't explicitly illegal doesn't mean it won't trigger an investigation. In Shiny’s case, the transparency and the fact that it was his own limb prevented any "desecration" charges.
Health Risks are Real
Prion diseases are no joke. While consuming skeletal muscle (like the leg) is lower risk than consuming nerve tissue or the brain, any form of cannibalism carries significant biological risks and psychological impacts that shouldn't be dismissed.
The story of the man eating human leg meat is ultimately a story about ownership. We like to think we own our bodies completely, but the moment a piece of us is detached, it becomes "waste," "evidence," or "garbage" in the eyes of the law. Shiny chose to reclaim that piece of himself in the most literal way possible. It was a one-time event, born of a specific set of circumstances, that remains one of the internet's most bizarre—yet entirely true—tales of human curiosity gone rogue.