According to this line on the 'Taboo Food and Drink' Wikipedia article:
'In the book Daily life in China, on the eve of the Mongol invasion, 1250-1276 Jacques Gernet refers to restaurants that specialized in human flesh. From the context, it does not appear that this was a freak event associated with famine.'
I remember reading about this before and it mentioned the same source. Unfortunately, it cannot read the source online. Can't find much more info either on this apparently unique case of publicly acceptable cannibalism that did not take place out of desperation or for ritualistic purposes. Can anyone shed light on this?
Jacques Gernet says, citing in turn Chi li pien, Shuo fu XXVII f. 14a-b:
"One author writes - deploring the thing it is true - that people from North China, where habits of cannibalism had spread after the wars and famine of the twelfth century, had opened restaurants in Hangchow where human flesh was served... being euphemistically called 'two-legged mutton'."
My copy of the Cambridge History of Song China unsurprisingly mentions cannibalism as being reported in records from or near famine areas. But cannibalism outside famine areas is a new one on me, aside from this one mention by Gernet of some period writer complaining of these alleged cannibal restaurants in Hangchow/Hangzhou.
But I am not a Song Dynasty expert, so I can't swear the guy Gernet quoted wasn't making it up.
Alright, a follow-up to any experts on the Song or on Confucianism.
From Joseon Korea, there were people who volunteered human flesh to his ill father for the purpose of filial piety and was recommended to be rewarded. But the law still prohibited cannibalism and cannibals were sentenced to death (with exceptions like in the aforementioned case, or one cannibal who went insane because of famine).
I also know Confucianism was particularly important among the Song. So if this happened (which I kinda doubt) how could this ever have been accepted?
During the Song dynasty, human flesh was not a luxury good, nor was cannibalism a luxury activity. As has already been stated here, cannibalism was mostly limited to times of famine, particularly in rural areas, and it was looked down upon by the upper class. I think it is likely that the author Gernet is citing was simply trying to disparage a particular restaurant, or slander the people from North China that operated it, as I really cannot think of any other examples of a restaurant specializing in human flesh. If it really did exist, however, it would not be catering to the upper class, nor could it successfully claim that “two-legged mutton” was a rare, luxury item.