I find it so disturbing and unnerving how, in famines that occurred in the socialist world, some people were in such an extreme situation that they had to resort to eating their own family members and friends. In particular, I heard this occurred during the Great Leap Forward, and the Soviet famines of the 1920s and 1930s.
What caused this to happen?
The economies of those countries were centrally managed, which applied to food production as well. The management was bad, leading to mass starvation.