A documentary about the commercialization of human meat in England has outraged hundreds of Britons. Not only because of its controversial content – it shows MasterChef star Gregg Wallace and chef Michel Roux testing this “new” product in a secret Good Harvest factory – but because it has turned out to be completely false. With the name The British Miracle Meat (The miraculous British meat, in Spanish), the program was broadcast last Monday on the Channel 4 television network, and at no time were viewers informed that what was explained was not real.
In this mockumentary, Wallace declares that human flesh can be a solution for people who can’t make ends meet due to inflation. As? If they allow the factory to surgically remove pieces of their skin, which will later be converted by cell culture into inexpensive steaks, they can earn extra money. At one point in the “documentary”, the presenter points out that, in order to obtain more tender cuts, the company also grows children’s meat.
After these statements, social networks were filled with complaints from Britons who did not believe what they were seeing. “This program
Minutes after the program ended, Gregg Wallace recognized that its content was false, something that Internet users did not like at all, who accused him of being a fraudster. On Tuesday, the presenter defended himself in this way in The Sun newspaper: “Although it was fiction, we wanted to raise important questions about the country’s relationship with food and denounce how the most vulnerable families do everything possible to stay afloat ” .
He added: “If we don’t start to address the cost of food and eat healthier, then this program, and the prospect of human meat on the menu, might not seem so far-fetched.”
These statements did not quite convince everyone, and 408 viewers contacted Ofcom, a government agency that is in charge of controlling television and radio content, to investigate the case.
The British Miracle Meat, explains Guardian contributor Steven Rose, is nothing new. It is an adapted version of the 18th century satirical essay A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. In it, he suggests eating babies as a solution to famine in Ireland.
The documentary is also reminiscent of the radio program broadcast on October 30, 1938, narrated by actor and future film director Orson Welles, which began like this: “Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our dance program to bring you some breaking news from Intercontinental Radio Agency”, which convinced listeners that an alien invasion was taking place in the United States.
Will The British Miracle Meat also become one of the greatest hoaxes in media history?
