How the practice of consuming others out of affection has been present throughout history.

Since ancient times and the beginning of literary records and other cultures, the act of feeding on another being has been embedded in the human being, hidden between the bones and the flesh. The horror of loving too much, devoting oneself, consuming and being consumed is something desired on different levels, but so shameful, wrong and immoral - a type of love that should not be spoken out loud.

From vampire romances, cultures, ancient customs and mainly as a way of survival, with the oldest case attributed to Neanderthals more than 100 thousand years ago, cannibalism has always been walking side by side with human nature.

In literature, the act of biting people's necks to feed - to survive - which vampires do has an intimate undertone, with an almost symbolic connection, and for this reason, despite the horror stories, vampirism is extremely popular in romance novels, because feeding on someone, needing, desiring and consuming, with another person (sometimes) allowing themselves to become this source of sustenance, diminishing what they are and giving their whole being completely to this other person is an intimacy beyond any kiss, any word, any affection. And although it may seem absurd, the first novel that follows this genre was released in the 19th century and it continues till nowadays.

Certain cultures also enjoy this practice, such as the now extinct Tupinambás, a Brazilian indigenous tribe, who held ceremonies in relation to the consumption of human meat with mythical intentions such as sharing the strength of the one who was consumed among the tribe or maintaining health among their people.

Now regarding the narrative “The Eaten Heart”, written by Giovanni Boccaccio, initially published in 1356, which “depicts 10 tales of lust, adventure and unexpected changes of destiny”, and, directly in the first tale, it talks about a husband who, in revenge for infidelity of his wife, kills her lover and feed her his heart, then eventually other parts.

In cases of cannibalism, the person being consumed literally becomes part of the other person, an extreme act of devotion. The desire to be open, to show one's “true form” to the person one loves, is such an intimate and unique desire, an act of “true love.” The person being consumed gives themselves completely, whether they want to or not.

“Consuming and being consumed” quickly becomes the most intimate form of love, seeing someone not only naked, but stripped of everything that made them a person, with no more worries, movements, emotions, just there, at the mercy of the other, ready to become one.

(This is just my point of view, I do not see cannibalism as a romantic thing outside of fiction.)