system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why isn't cannibalism more common in extremely poor regions?

I'll start off saying I'm not supporting the idea of cannibalism. But I was thinking, in regions full of turmoil/extreme poverty, where people are consistently starving to death, why isn't cannibalism more of an issue?

I know there's a huge difference between humans and all other animal species, but a lot of meat-eating animals wouldn't hesitate to eat their own species if they were dying (whether the meal had died prior, or was killed with the intent of consumption).
gpt
The reasons below combine to make regular cannibalism either explicitly illegal or at least a strong taboo across most cultures:

- Empathy & attachment

People aren't likely to eat their deceased friends or family because it feels wrong (due to human empathy and the association between one's physical body and personhood). We develop a natural disgust to the thought of consuming human flesh for this reason.

For the same reason, families/friends of the deceased would not permit you to consume the deceased without resistance.

- Religion & ritual

Many religions (especially tribal ones) often place religious significance on deceased bodies or view it as being connected to the afterlife. To consume a body would then be viewed as a sin or offense to god in such religions; cannibalism would lead to self-shame/guilt, ostracization from society, and sometimes outright punishment.

- Legality & slippery slope

Similar to religious rules, it is often illegal to consume human flesh. If society allowed the consumption of human flesh to be a legal activity, there is only a thin line that separates the consumption of someone who is already dead and killing someone for the purpose of consumption.

- Societal selection via disease

You can get a lot of diseases from human flesh that you wouldn't get from another animal's flesh. People/tribes in the past that constantly ate human flesh would have had higher rates of death & morbidity and thus, these societies/practices would have felt selection pressures against them.

- Societal selection via war/competition

Only impoverished, weak nations/tribes would resort to consumption of human flesh for the purpose of survival. Such nations/tribes would have likely been conquered by a more powerful neighbouring nation/tribe or self-destruct due to poor economic conditions (negative selection pressure).