Yes, we have a thing for that. (It runs in the family, we can't really help it)
Fun fact: you might have seen the early European descriptions of kava by Captain Cook in Lebot's book, but do you know how Captain Cook died?
He tried to kidnap the ruling chief of Hawaii, and the Hawaiians were not very happy about that, to put it mildly.
"...with a spyglass a young
William Bligh (the future captain of
HMS Bounty) watched as Cook's body was dragged up the hill to the town where it was torn to pieces in full view of his ship's crew. In fact Cook's remains were treated differently:
the esteem which the islanders nevertheless held for Cook caused them to retain his body. Following their practice of the time, they prepared his body with funerary rituals usually reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society.
The body was disembowelled, baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages."
Cook was cooked, literally.
